When Doves Cry
by PriestessOfNox
Summary: After the Justice League defeats the Justice Lords with help from Lex Luthor, Superman discovers that Lord Superman has been holdng a certain green 'bird' captive at his Fortress of Solitude. Slightly AU, SLASH, abuse. Now in Mature section.
1. Part 1 Chapter 1

06/03/08

Well, since I have writer's block for my other stories I decided to start this idea which has been pretty much beating my imagination to a pulp for months, demanding to be written. I got the idea for this while rewatching Superman: TAS during the episodes where Superman was being controled by Dark Seid. It made me think of the Justice League episodes where they encounter alternate universe versions of themselves called the Justice Lords where they all WILLINGLY went EVIL to make the world 'safe' after the Flash was killed. It made me think, "What would have happened if evil Superman had met Brainy? What if they had been in a relationship before he went evil? What would evil Superman have done to keep Brainy even though he was no longer the hero Brainy knew and fell in love with?" This thus story was born. It's darker then most of my stories and though I will start it out in the teen section I'll probably move it to mature later so please put it on your alert lists if you want to keep track of it.

As for the TOSoP Fanart contest I now have 8 entires, the new ones from FunkyFish1991, Dracophile/Dragon up a tree, and SaintAsh so the first chapter of this new story is for them. ENJOY!

Legion of Superheroes / Justice League

Crossover Fanfiction

(I don't own either one. Sad isn't it?)

Explanations: READ IF YOU WANT STORY TO MAKE SENSE!

Legion of Superheroes: Since I've only seen the animated series this is largely based on that instead of the comic books with some influences from them, making this story slightly Alternate Universe. Most of the changes deal with Brainiac Five.

In the animated series Brainiac Five (Brainy) is an android from a planet entirely occupied by androids like him. Why he is the only one connected to Brainiac, or even 'Five' in this case, I have no idea. In the comic series and Justice League Unlimited,Brainiac Five was an entirely organic being, descended from Brainiac when he discovered how to pass down his codes genetically, with extreme intelligence.

IN THIS story I combine the two ideas. Since I am a big, Tekkie Brainy's old collective reminds me a lot of The Borg that assimilate species and integrate technology with their organic bodies. So in my head, Brainy's collective, which I think are called the Coluans, are born organically and technology gets integrated so much in their systems you can't tell where the technology begins and the organic ends. Thus Brainy is both mechanical and organic; meaning he is descended from Brainiac like in the comics.

THIS story takes place after the animated series.

Justice League: Solely based on the animated series and takes place at the end of the Justice Lords episodes.

When Doves Cry

Part 1

Chapter 1

It had been a difficult decision, bringing in Lex Luthor to defeat the Justice Lords. The Justice League knew it was dangerous to offer Luthor his freedom, to trust him in any way, especially with a weapon that could be turned on them the moment he was finished with the Lords; plus the way the Lords seemed to hate him more then the League thought possible made the League doubt their decision but they had no choice. The Lords had to be stopped.

Flash was jumpy after Lord Superman had nearly killed him. His jokes weren't as frequent or as corny, he didn't even attempt to flirt with Hawkgirl or Wonder Woman when given the chance and he moved around as if he had forgotten how to turn off his speed force.

None of the League wanted to expose Flash to the Lords more then they had to so it was Superman and Batman who returned the, temporarily, powerless Lords back to their world for holding.

"I've designed their holding cells to contain them even after they regain their powers," explained Lord Batman, handing Batman information on each cell.

"You do know I will be inspecting all of them," said Batman.

"I expected as much," said Lord Batman, suggestion to the control panel.

As Batman stalked away, Superman turned to the Lord that had helped them.

"What will happen to you?"

"I've been sentenced to be the Warden," said Lord Batman, not looking at Superman as he walked away to his counterpart.

"I bet they think he's the only one that stands a chance if we escape," said a voice, identical to Superman's.

Superman turned to look at his reflection, dressed differently in both his clothes and his mentality. His eyes narrowed at the 'S' that almost seemed to bleed into the white of his counterpart's uniform.

"You know perfectly well he can handle any one of us-you."

Lord Superman just smiled, looking around his new accommodations.

"You think you can't become me, don't you?"

"I will never become you," said Superman.

At this Lord Superman laughed.

"Why, what makes you different from me? What have you done that I didn't do? What beliefs do you have that I don't live for?"

"I will never make the choices you did," said Superman.

"That doesn't answer my question," said Lord Superman.

Superman examined his counterpart's face, trying to find a difference between them. There was nothing in their faces that varied from one another other then their expressions. If they had dressed the same there probably wouldn't be a way to tell one apart from the other.

"I won't be staying long," continued Lord Superman, examining Superman's face in turn. "I need to get back to my little green bird."

The way Lord Superman smile made Superman feel as if he had been hit with his own ice breath. There was more behind the Lord's words then he was letting on.

Birds made Superman think of the animals he rescued from the Collector and kept at the Fortress of Solitude but he couldn't think of any green birds plus there was no reason to return to the Fortress to take care of the animals. The animal's habitats had everything they needed for that very reason.

Did Lord Superman adopt some sort of pet that needed regular care? If he did, why would he keep it at the fortress? The only reason Superman could think of was if he didn't want anyone else to know about it. What would the dictator have to hide?

_My little __**green**__ bird_.

Superman's entire body jerked out of thought as he stared at Lord Superman's smile. He couldn't. Not even he would-

"Brainy."

At Superman's choked voice, his look of utter disbelief, Lord Superman's smile widened.

"So you do have one."

Anger vaporizing his disbelief, Superman punched the force field that divided him from the Lord.

As the force field rippled, Lord Superman didn't flinch at the attack as he looked through what could have been a distorted mirror.

"What have you done to him?!" shouted Superman.

"Nothing you wouldn't have done if you where me," said Lord Superman calmly.

"Superman?" called a stoic voice.

Both who claimed that name turned to view the two who donned the title of 'The Dark Knight'.

"What is it?" asked Batman.

Superman glanced at his counterpart who, in turn, viewed him with a sick curiosity. There was no telling how much this Superman had told the other Lords, if they knew anything about his adventures in the future that began in his youth. If they had known what he had been doing while holding their world within their fists under their shattered view of justice.

"I need to go to his Fortress," said Superman walking away from the other's cage.

"He won't trust you," said Lord Superman, his voice tightening.

"That's only because he doesn't trust you," said Superman, turning to Batman. "I need to borrow your Kryptonite."

"Killing yourself for me?" asked Lord Superman, amused now.

Batman glanced at the Lord Superman and his own counterpart, measuring them up quicker then most people could recognize an expression. He then concentrated his observations on Superman.

Returning his gaze, Superman held out his hand.

Ripping off the lead lined compartment of his utility belt, Batman placed it in Superman's hand.

"I better get this back."

"I'll do my best," said Superman, walking towards the exit.

"He won't be coming back," said Lord Superman, "my little bird will kill him."

--

The flight to the Fortress seemed longer then Superman remembered, even though he was going as fast as he could without destroying the ground below him.

Diving into the icy waters, he came back up in the Fortress, almost feeling the cold of this place try to swallow him.

There was no noise.

Walking further in, Superman stopped when he came to the animal habitats, broken and empty, the remaining plants dead. He dared not look further in to see what became of the animals.

His steps more cautious, Superman felt nauseous as he came to a room filled with robotic copies of his counterpart, unfinished with their parts spewing from their chests and stomachs. Also there was a giant computer, covered in untouched dust.

Further in there were other dissimilarities, but Superman tried to block them out, tried not to notice. He didn't want to remember any of this.

This was how he almost passed a hallway that wasn't in his Fortress. It looked like it had been carved away by fists and roughly smoothed out by heat vision. Barely any light could be seen from within.

When Superman entered the hallway, it lit up but that didn't make what he saw any better.

At the end of the hall was a cell similar to those that now held the Justice Lords. It was bigger then a normal prison cell, three blank walls darkened by green splatters, a beat up mattress on the ground, cut off from the hallway by a force field. Its prisoner was sitting against the back wall, knees folded to the chest, arms wrapped around knees and face buried there; far too still.

Superman rushed to the cell faster then he even thought possible and ripped out the control panel.

The force field fizzled out, allowing Superman beyond its barrier.

"Brainy?"

Wincing, the prisoner lifted his magenta eyes from the folds of his arms. His hair had grown longer then the Brainy Superman knew, past his shoulders and clumping together with neglect. There were bruises on his forearms and most noticeably on his cheek and lips, also chapped and split open. His clothes didn't even remotely resemble his Legion garb, torn and baggy they could have been different clothes entirely.

As Superman's mind tried to comprehend this nightmare Brainy's eyes took in the other's costume and smirked, causing his lip to bleed.

"Trying out the old look _Superman_? It doesn't suit you."

The words were shaky but filled with venom and caused Superman's heart to lurch. He wished for the ability to hold this Brainy, to make it so none of this ever happened but such hope was out of his reach.

"I- I'm not the Superman you know," said Superman, knowing how stupid it sounded before he even started.

"Of course you are," said Brainy lightly. He ran his thumb over his lip, capturing some of his blood and wiped it against the wall behind him, smearing on more green.

"I'm from another world that the Justice Lords tried to take over. The League defeated them. I- I'm here to get you out of here," said Superman softly.

No longer looking at Superman, Brainy rested his head on top of his arms. His gaze drifted to the ceiling.

"That's a nice story."

Gathering his will power, Superman stepped into the abyss, his legs shaking.

"It's not a story, I'm getting you out of here."

"I'm not building anything for you," said Brainy.

"I don't want you to," said Superman.

"I'm not going to suddenly discover you were right and help you be a dictator," said Brainy, gaze drifting downwards to look at Superman. His clouded over eyes and smile held the Kryptonian at bay. He continued but in a mocking, singing, tone, "Which is: _What. You. Are._"

Unable to find a way to answer without it sounding like a lie, Superman forced himself forward until he stood right before the Coluan. He knew he probably couldn't convince this version of his Brainiac Five to follow him out, he didn't even know if he _could_ follow him anywhere.

It felt like a bad idea but there was no way Superman could leave. He bent down and lifted Brainy under his knees and around his back, like one would carry a bride, like he had carried _his_ Brainy so many times before. The Coluan was shockingly light, even by his standards.

Instead of panicking, hitting him or trying to get away, like Superman expected, Brainy surprised him by taking hold of his face.

"Fine, you win."

Pulling Superman's face closer, Brainy pressed his lips against the other man's.

Jumping, Superman pulled away the second their lips touched.

"What are you doing?"

"You always act nicer when you want sex," said Brainy lightly, wiping his blood off of Superman's lips.

If he hadn't been holding Brainy, Superman thought he would have been sick. His lips formed a thin line as he carried Brainy out of the cell and to the closest thing the Fortress had to a living room. Setting the mostly unresponsive man on one of the chairs, he took off his cape and wrapped it around the other's shoulders.

Lightly holding onto the material, Brainy observed his green hand contrasting against the red for a moment before returning his gaze to Superman.

"You're not usually this determined to trick me." He smiled like a child discovering a secret. "I'm not going to fall for it."

"I know you can't trust me with what you've been through," said Superman softly, reaching around his back to his own belt where he hooked the compartment from Batman's utility belt. "But I at least want to try to help you feel safe." He unhooked the compartment form his belt and placed it in Brainy's hand. "Hold onto this for as long as you feel the need to."

Brainy stared at the compartment for a long time, as if unable to recognize the fact that it was really there. Releasing his hold on the cape, allowing it to stay loosely around him, he used both hands to examine the outwardly soft container with a hardness that could be felt underneath.

He snapped open the flap.

Resisting his instinct to back away, Superman felt the familiar pain of green kryptonite zapping away his strength. His legs shook and soon enough his knees buckled and he fell to the ground, barely catching himself from falling completely by throwing out his hands.

It was snapped closed.

Gasping for air as if he had forgotten how to breath while the pouch was open, Superman felt his muscles ache, trying to regain their strength.

Open.

Elbows giving out Superman fell completely to the floor, his head starting to pound and numb in thought.

Close.

It probably would have been easy to get up and knock the compartment away, to stop the threat of pain and vulnerability but Superman didn't even try to get off the floor. He had to gain some of Brainy's trust and to do that he had to trust Brainy not to kill him.

Open.

Superman's body jerked, trying to curl into itself, trying to block out the green radiation of his home world.

Close.

There was something, a noise outside the pounding of head and Superman released his hold over his ears, unsure of when he had covered them. Whatever it was the sound was muffled and coming from above him.

With his strength returning Superman was able to turn his head and look upwards.

The compartment laid discarded on Brainy's lap as his hands clutched the sides of his face, tears flooded out of his clenched shut eyes and his body shook as he tried not to make a sound.

Lifting himself off the ground, Superman kneeled in front of Brainy, scared of making the wrong move, terrified of pushing him too far.

"Brainy?"

Shakily gasping air Brainy opened his eyes and looked at Superman with the first bit of clarity that the Kryptonian could recognize.

"It's you."

Before Superman could question these words Brainy fell from his chair, leaping into the other man's arms and holding onto him with a fierceness that could have broken anyone else.

"I thought- I never thought-" sobbed Brainy, his voice shaking along with the rest of him. "You were gone- I'd never see you again. No matter how bad it got, no matter how much I hated him," his voice cracked and his hold on Superman tightened, "I never stopped loving you."

Superman could feel himself starting to crumble under the weight of Brainy's tears.


	2. Part 1 Chapter 2

06/07/08

Not much to say. I feel kinda sick and my Grandma seems to be going downhill. Not such a good week anymore. Prepare for angst in my writing.

Chapter 2

Before Superman went to the other Fortress he had thought he would stay there with Brainy until he felt Brainy could handle being around two Batmans and be in the same building as the imprisoned Justice Lords but he knew he couldn't do that the moment he saw Brainy in his cell. He couldn't even bring himself to consider making Brainy stay there even a moment longer then necessary.

After Superman fully regained his strength and Brainy had calmed as much as he could, Superman quickly searched the Fortress for something that Brainy could wear. He found a spare of Brainy's Legion costume in the bedroom, complete with shoes and a flight ring in the dresser.

Standing there, in that room Superman wanted to burn everything. Kick, punch and use his heat vision on everything until there was nothing of the Fortress left but he didn't have the right. He was not the one hurt by this place and its owner.

Unable to find a jacket and unwilling to touch the blanket on the bed, Superman activated his League communicator as he walked back to where he had left Brainy.

"Bruce?"

"Yes?"

"I'll be coming back shortly, can you get a blanket or coat of some kind by the time I get there?"

"Chilled?"

The sarcastic question was overwhelmed with the silent demand for an explanation.

"I'm bringing someone back with me."

"The bird he mentioned."

"…yes."

"I'll arrange for medical supplies and rations."

"Thanks Bruce."

The line was disconnected.

Superman walked back into the room where he left Brainy and immediately stepped back out, feeling the affect of Kryptonite leap out of him. He peeked his head back in and saw Brainy still sitting on the floor, looking at the Kryptonite in a sort of daze.

"It may not be as obvious but Kryptonite radiation can still hurt non-Kryptonians," said Superman as softly as he could and still be heard.

Slowly looking upwards, Brainy looked at Superman so a moment as if he had forgotten something. Closing the compartment, cutting off the Kryptonite radiation, his gaze fell back to the floor.

"I know."

Walking into the room again, Superman took this moment to really look at Brainy, not just his injuries.

This Brainy had been turned into a, admittedly green, human like his Brainy. It was also possible that this Brainy had been born organic and stayed that way, unlike his Brainy who had been changed into a cyborg, often confused with an android, for most of his life. His eyes were magenta, possibly having changed after a few days from the green eyes he had when he first became human like his Brainy.

If it wasn't for the injuries, long hair and torn clothes there wouldn't be a physical difference between the two.

Much like Superman and his counterpart if they wore the same clothes.

Pushing these thoughts aside, Superman held out the clothes he had found.

"You might want to change into these so you can stay warm during the flight out of here."

Looking up again, Brainy stared blankly at the clothes.

Many thoughts began to ran through Superman's mind.

What if Brainy didn't want to wear these clothes because they were so similar to the ones he wore during his captivity?

What if Brainy wouldn't take the clothes from him because he looked at his counterpart?

What if Brainy couldn't stand? He couldn't recall ever seeing Brainy actually using his legs.

What if he was in shock from all of this?

Unbeknownst to him, Superman's arms began to shake with worry.

Seeing this Brainy glanced at Superman's face before placing his hand on the nearby table and using it as leverage to pull himself to his feet. He was panting slightly by the time he was upright, now leaning on the table for support.

Putting the clothes and ring on the table and the shoes on the ground, Superman hesitated to touch Brainy.

"Do you need help?"

Looking at the clothes, Brainy barely glanced at Superman before shaking his head, even though he was still panting.

Though he still wanted to help, he didn't want to make Brainy uncomfortable so he took a step back to give him some space.

After a few moments Brainy straightened himself up and began to remove his shirt.

Eyes widening, Superman turned around to give the other man some privacy.

Brainy said something.

"Sorry?" asked Superman, keeping his back to the Coluan.

"I asked if you had ever seen your Brainiac Five naked," said Brainy.

Despite his best efforts, Superman's face heated up and his heart raced at his memories. So many times he felt guilty over wanting to look at Brainy with his X-ray vision before they were together, starting before Brainy had turned human. How after Brainy had turned human how he had wanted nothing more then to make the boy understand he didn't have to go through any his changes, learning emotions or the guilt over what he had done on his own. The days he forgot anything else existed when Brainy smiled at him, when he held Brainy to him, when they-

"Yes," Superman nearly choked out the word, his heart ached.

"Then you needn't be embarrassed about seeing me naked. Though, I suppose my body is worse for wear," said Brainy, is voice trailing off at the end.

Superman breathed in deeply, trying to calm the growing ache in his chest. What could he possibly do to comfort this Brainy when it was someone with his face who had hurt him?

"I'm sorry."

There was no response.

"I-I know that I'm not the one who did this to you, that there was nothing I could have done because I hadn't known, that my apologizing won't make anything better but I'm sorry," said Superman, feeling like he wouldn't be able to breath again until he got the words out. "I'm sorry that any version of me hurt you, that I could sink so low and forget everything I had set out to do. I'm so disgusted that I did this to you. I-"

"It wasn't you," said Brainy.

Surprised, Superman turned to see that Brainy had finished dressing and had sat back in the chair to put on his shoes.

"You didn't do any of these so don't you dare apologize again," said Brainy, his voice close to what Superman was used to hearing from his Brainy when he was angry.

Opening his mouth, Superman nearly apologized again but he shut it and rubbed his face, trying to get rid of the numbness that threatened to take over. He noticed the flight ring that was still sitting on the table and picked it up before holding it out for Brainy to take.

Brainy didn't even look up.

"Throw it away."

"Doesn't it work anymore?" asked Superman.

"Just throw it away," said Brainy weakly, his voice sounding ready to crack.

Pocketing the ring, Superman placed the compartment with the Kryptonite back into Brainy's hand.

"Are you alright with me carrying you for that long?"

Absently fiddling with the material of the compartment, Brainy meekly shrugged.

"Taking your bird for a stroll master?" asked a mechanical voice.

Superman turned, surprised to see one of the robotic duplicates of Lord Superman standing there, half of it's outer disguise torn off to reveal the metal and wires underneath.

"That's his servant," explained Brainy, keeping his gaze on the compartment. "He takes care of me while _he_'s away."

"You could say that," said Superman to the machine before turning to Brainy and walking close enough so he could whisper. "What do you want to do with it?"

Brainy looked up at Superman in confusion.

"I know it's not him but it looks like him," whispered Superman. "Would it make you feel better to hit it? I could blow it up if you want."

"He's just a machine, doing what he was programmed," said Brainy softly. "I don't blame him for anything _he_ did. Let him be."

Nodding, Superman straightened himself and turned to the robotic Lord Superman.

"We'll be leaving soon. Take care of the Fortress while we're gone."

The RoboLord looked at Superman, the look of processing data clear in both his obviously robotic eye and the blue imitation eye.

"Very well sir."

With a slight bow, the RoboLord left the room.

Bending down, Superman picked up his cape that had been discarded while Brainy changed and wrapped it back around Brainy's shoulders.

"You ready?"

Looking around the room they were in, Brainy's eyes seemed unfocused, almost watery. When he was done, his gaze fell to the ground and he nodded.

The flight back to Metropolis didn't seem as long as the flight to the Fortress but it was almost as painful. Neither of them spoke and Brainy continued to shiver long after it had stopped being cold.

Landing on the roof of the building that was the Justice Lord's prison, Superman gently placed Brainy back onto it feet, holding him steady when his legs wobbled.

"There's something you should know before we go inside."

Brainy peered up at Superman.

"The other Superman is inside," began Superman but was cut off when Brainy pulled away from him and fell to the ground. He reached to help him stand.

"No!" screamed Brainy, shielding himself from Superman's touch with his arms, his shaking had become worse. "I'm not going in there! I can't! I _can't_…" He began to sob, lowering his arms to wrap them around himself.

"Brainy, it's alright," said Superman softly, kneeling in front of him. "You don't have to go anywhere near him, he doesn't even have his powers anymore and you have the Kryptonite, remember?"

"If he doesn't have his powers then the Kryptonite won't work," sniffed Brainy.

"That's true but I'm here," said Superman.

Wiping at his face, Brainy looked up at Superman.

"And we have two Batmans," said Superman, trying to smile. "There's nothing scarier then one pissed off Batman, can you imagine two?"

Shaking his head, Brainy tried to stand.

Standing first, Superman offered his hand.

Looking at the hand and then at Superman, Brainy wearily took the hand and allowed himself to be pulled back to his feet. He had calmed slightly but he was still shaking.

"Come on, I asked Batman to get something for you to warm up in," said Superman, suggestion to the door.

Brainy's legs were very weak and it took him a while to climb down the stairs, clinging to the railing the entire way. He refused Superman's help each time it was offered but took hold of his extended arm when he reached the bottom, needing it to keep steady as he struggled to breath.

"It's alright," said Superman softly, over and over again until Brainy calmed. He placed his hand on top of Brainy's when he was about to pull away and kept it there when Brainy's hold relaxed around his arm.

They walked like this to the meeting room where the two Batmans were discussing something, becoming silent when they entered the room.

The Batmans exchanged a look and Lord Batman nodded, leaving the room.

"He's getting you something to eat," said Batman, picking up a blanket from the chair next to him and walking over to them.

Brainy tensed and tightened his hold on Superman's arm when Batman reached to remove the cape from his shoulders.

Leaving the cape in place, Batman placed the blanket on top of it before turning to Superman and narrowing his eyes.

There was no mistaking that look. Batman wanted answers, probably about who Brainy was and an explanation about a mark so similar to Brainiac's on his forehead.

"Batman, this is Brainiac Five. I've met him in our world as well when I was younger and his group, the Legion of Superheroes, needed my help in the 31st century," explained Superman, hoping Batman would drop the subject, at least for the time being.

Making no indication whether or not he had heard, Batman turned and walked back towards where he had been standing before, pulling out a chair at the table as he went. When he reached the far side of the room he began working on a wall panel computer.

"Shall we sit?" asked Superman.

Nodding, Brainy allowed Superman to lead him to the chair Batman had pulled out. As he sat, he let go of Superman's arm, who took the seat beside him.

Coming back into the room Lord Batman placed a bowl of tomato soup with some crackers, along with a small sandwich in front of Brainy before going to join the other Batman. They began to talk in whispers.

Ignoring it, Superman took the spoon and handed it to Brainy.

Brainy ate very slowly, almost uncertainly for a while. He was able to drink all the soup but could only manage half the sandwich.

"Do you want anything else?" asked Superman.

Brainy shook his head.

Lord Batman came to take the plate away.

"It's fine," said Superman, raising a hand to stop him. "I'll finish it, on the farm Pa always says, 'waste not, want not,' or is it 'want not, waste not'?" He laughed at himself and rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. "I can never remember."

Resting his head on his hand, his elbow propped up on the table, Brainy's lips twitched in an almost smile but his eyes became incredibly sad.

Superman didn't need Lord Batman's very typical Batman look that questioned is intelligence. He felt bad enough as it was.

"We should probably attend to those injuries," said Lord Batman, turning to Brainy. "There's a room down the hall where you can shower first and we'll clean your clothes." He began to walk out but waited at the doorway.

Brainy stood a bit shakily and pushed back in the chair.

"Do you need help or want me to wait for you?" asked Superman.

Taking off the blanket, Brainy placed it on the back of the chair and shook his head. He hesitated a moment but removed Superman's cape and handed it to him before turning to follow Lord Batman out of the room.

"So what have you two been working on?" asked Superman.

"Ways of making sure the other Lords don't escape once most of them get back their powers. The Martian may proof to be difficult," said Batman, saving his data and turning to Superman. "What did he do to that child?"

At first Superman was going to protest that Brainy wasn't that much younger then they were, if you ignored the fact that he wasn't _technically_ born yet, but then thought of how small this Brainy had become, so hesitant and scared. He couldn't blame Batman for his assumption.

"Some of the worst things you could do to a person."

"We should leave soon," said Batman.

"Are you joking? I just can't leave him," exclaimed Superman, springing up at the anger that flared inside of him at the suggestion.

"You're the worst thing for him right now," said Batman. "Think about it; you share the same face as his captor. His becoming dependent on you would just be substituting one form of abuse for another."


	3. Part 1 Chapter 3

07/29/08

Hey all. I got a note from someone at DA after I recommended a bunch of stories in TOSoP. I accidently deleted it or something because it just disappeared when I transfered a bunch of notes from the inbox to a folder, so if that person is reading this could they resend it to me? And I'm curious as to what television show you think this is based off besides LOSH. I got the title When Doves Cry from a Prince song.

I'm still waiting for the 1st place winner of the TOSopP fanart contest to tell me what they want for their oneshot, but I don't mind, they can take all the time they need, and I'm going to wait to do all the drabbles until the UC and MP fanart contests are over, which will be around 08/05 so I can post them all together.

On a side note I bought a white jacket that I would like to paint on like a canvas with a bunch of characters and stuff I like. A little Anime, some Disney, cartoons and comics, etc... Sadly I draw like a monkey; I see something and then I draw from it as a visual reference. So here is what I was thinking: I'd have another fanart contest only I'd choose the winner this time. The person I chose would get a oneshot and everyone who gave me a submission would get a guaranteed drabble.

Here would be the rules:

There has to be an element from each of my LOSH stories in the picture. Like Fuzzy from UC, the Brainy plushie from MP, backpack from BG, etc... It would probably be hard to pick an element from Sunlight Naptime, When or When Doves Cry so those don't have to be included if your don't want them to be but I'd be impressed if you found something to add from them.

Characters that _have to be_ in the picture are Brainy and a version of Clark/Superman/Kal-El. If you want there can be multiple versions of them like Brainy being fought over by Superman and Kal-El while little Brainy/Smarty watches while sitting on older Superman's lap.

There can be as many or as little characters as you want in it other then Brainy and Clark/Kal-El.

Extra points will be given to those who add Static/Virgil, Gear/Richie, Batman, or Invisible Kid (styled in the fashion of the famous kiss era from the comics). But like I said, adding more character is not required.

That's what I'm thinking so far, and I'd probably give a few months to anyone who wanted to enter, until around November maybe? If no one is interested I may use one of the fanarts I've already recieved or a screen shot from the show. In any case when it's finished I hope to wear it on the next Anime Convention I go to since it's been a long time since I was able to go and I want to reward myself since I'll be graduating (hopefully) at half year this year. X3

I've taken up enough of your time with my blabbing. Enjoy!

**Chapter 3**

"Abuse?" Superman all but whispered, his anger leaving him quicker then air out of a popped balloon.

He slumped back into his seat.

"I know you don't want to hear this, Clark, but that boy was held against his will for a long time. He's used to being controlled by that doppelganger of yours. He'll subconsciously associate you with him and all your attempts to help will be unintentionally controlling him all over again," Batman explained, looming over the taller man.

Even though Superman heard the words he couldn't bring himself to let them into his mind.

"Then what am I supposed to do? I can't leave him here alone with _him_. Brainy is scared of him and I'd be the only one who could stand a chance against him if something went wrong. And… and your counterpart used to work with him. I doubt Brainy will feel comfortable around him if we're not here."

"The best thing for him is to get him back to his own time, to his friends who can help him without hurting him further," continued Batman, his voice more firm.

"Bruce, his time – at least the one he knew – may not exist anymore. Think about it; the whole reason they ever took me to the future was because they needed help from a hero. I know the Legion better then you, they wouldn't have come for him if they knew he became a Justice _Lord_. And Brainy definitely never would have had a relationship with him. We might be all he has," Superman tried to explain.

"What makes you think I have any involvement in this?" asked Batman.

If Batman had said anything like that when they had first met, Superman would have been shocked that a hero could be so cold – and angry at his lack of sympathy. However, Superman knew better now. This was Batman trying to stay detached and force him to make a non-emotional decision. It didn't mean he didn't care, it just meant he wanted to do what was best: not what would make them feel good about themselves later.

Still, Superman valued his emotions far too much to push them aside.

"I'm not leaving him."

"What about _your_ Brainiac Five?"

Superman looked up at him, eyes widening, jaw falling open.

"You're in a relationship with the Brainiac Five on our world, aren't you?"

Though Batman phrased it like a question, it wasn't one.

Nodding anyway, Superman closed his mouth.

"You're going to leave this world eventually and that could hurt this Brainiac Five more than any of your help if you allow him to get attached to you." Batman's voice sounded surer of this than the possibility he made it out to be.

Slowly, Superman dropped his head into his hands.

"What am I supposed to do?"

"That's not my decision, now is it?" Batman asked, turning and walking back to what he had been working on earlier.

_You are absolutely no help_, Superman bit his tongue to keep from yelling at the Bat. He also had to muscle up all his willpower not to grab the sandwich plate and throw it at his teammate's head.

Though he wouldn't put it past Batman to be expecting it and have back up kryptonite and a batarang ready for him.

Trying not to grumble, Superman took out his frustrations by devouring the rest of the sandwich.

"Feel better?" asked Batman after a few moments, almost sounding amused.

Superman didn't care what anyone said. Batman _had_ to have some sort of superpower. There was no other way he could _always_ know the reasons behind his actions, his moods, _what he was thinking_ and be so cocky without getting himself killed by now.

Thankfully, Superman wasn't given the chance to answer – or rather lie – since Lord Batman came back into the room. Behind him walked Brainy, looking clean, though none of his injuries had been treated.

Still, Superman was surprised; Brainy had cut his hair. With it short again, he looked almost exactly the way he did when he had first became human, only older and… with a new, different, aura of vulnerability around him.

Practically ignoring the fact that Superman was there, Lord Batman turned to his counterpart.

"He won't let me treat him and I think it's a bad idea to let him treat himself."

"I've been doing it my entire life," said Brainy, crossing his arms, but he wasn't meeting anyone's gaze.

The two Batmans pretty much ignored this as Superman looked up at Brainy. He wanted to offer to help but Batman's words were still catapulting around in his mind more violently than Bouncing Boy shooting around the room when freaking out during his horror movies.

"I'll treat him," said Batman, taking the medical supplies from Lord Batman that Superman hadn't noticed when they first walked in.

"How is that any different from him doing it?" asked Brainy, turning towards Batman but still not looking up.

"Because I'm not giving you a choice. Sit down."

_What happened to _not_ controlling him again_? Superman wanted to ask, but felt maybe Batman knew more about what he was doing than he did. Batman was, well, _Batman_ and he… he still felt utterly lost about what to do.

The movement was slow, almost stepping back, but Brainy moved forward and sat down, a seat away from Superman instead of next to him like before.

Not saying anything, Batman attended to all the visible wounds on Brainy's face and arms. When he had finished he turned to Superman.

"Leave."

"What? Why?" asked Superman.

"I'm going to attend his other injuries. Leave," said Batman.

Under the glare of two Batmans, Superman stood to go.

"I'll be right outside; call if you need anything."

No one acknowledged this, so Superman left the room in silence. On the other side of the door, he leaned against the wall and gazed up at the ceiling.

What was he going to do?

Luckily, Superman didn't have to make his decision right away. As it turned out, Batman needed to stay longer to help his counterpart make the prison more secure. He basically had until they were done to make a decision and, since they were night owls – or rather night _bats_ – there was no telling how much time he would have.

When Brainy's injuries were all taken care of, Lord Batman gave him a room far away from where the other Lords were being contained. The Dark Knight of this world even deactivated the lock which, Superman assumed, was for Brainy's peace of mind.

Standing outside the room, Superman watched as Brainy just stood in the middle of the floor, perfectly still and silent long after Lord Batman had left. He almost felt like he should leave but something told him it would be a bad idea.

"Brainy?"

At the sound of his voice, Brainy's entire being seemed to incinerate the air around him with rage. He trashed about the room, breaking furniture, ripping up the bedcovers, throwing things against the walls.

Superman felt like he had been hit with his own ice breath. He couldn't move, couldn't understand what was happening.

He didn't even realize Brainy had been screaming until it stopped and the Coluan fell to his knees, changing from fire to water as quickly as steam evaporated.

Seeing Brainy's tears and hearing his sobs made Superman want to rip out his own heart so he didn't have to feel any of the overlapping storms tearing him up from the inside but he couldn't.

He just couldn't.

His feet felt as though they were covered in kryptonite as Superman made his way forward. It was like he was on autopilot as he knelt down beside Brainy and reached out to wrap his arms around him.

"_No_!" Brainy screamed, shrinking into himself just as the other man's arms were nearly touching him.

Eyes widening, Superman knew he really should have been expecting it but that didn't make it hurt any less. He brought his arms back around himself and moved to further the distance between them.

Choking back a sob, Brainy reached out and held onto Superman's arm closest to him and leaned against the attached shoulder. His cries become softer.

Resting back in his original spot, Superman realized there was nothing he could do or say. All he could do was sit and let Brainy use him for what little support he had to offer: a shoulder to cry on.

When the crying faded, Brainy remained where he was and became silent again.

Superman didn't try to touch him any further than what Brainy had initiated himself, or offer any words. He could wait as long as he needed to.

There was no telling how much time had passed, for the clock had been broken and the room didn't have a window, but when Brainy's hold around his arm loosened, Superman knew Brainy had fallen asleep.

Carefully maneuvering their positions so he could pick Brainy up, Superman laid the younger man on the seemingly undamaged bed. He then retrieved the thrown pillow and got another blanket to replace the torn one, wrapping it loosely around the still form.

It took a while longer but Superman found where Brainy had thrown Batman's belt compartment with the kryptonite in it. He placed it on the bed near Brainy's head, just in case the boy woke up and needed a sign that he was safe.

Leaving the room, Superman found Batman waiting for him.

"You're letting him get attached to you."

At Batman's words, Superman managed to smile softly.

"We're already attached to each other. Even if we are in different worlds he's still Brainy and I love him. I can't stand by and do nothing and let him suffer."

Narrowing his eyes, Batman contemplated these words, Superman's body language and his expression. He turned and began to walk away.

"Do whatever you want."

--

When Superman woke up in the middle of the night, he wasn't sure what caused it. Laying still, he let his instincts take over, allowing his super hearing to activate. His ears immediately picked up the sound of weeping.

Rushing out his bed and from the room, Superman forgot to put his boots back on. He flew to the source of the crying, back to Brainy's room.

He opened the door to walk in but immediately jumped back.

Sitting up on the bed, knees against his chest, face on top of his knees and arms wrapped around his head with his fingers pulling at his own hair was Brainy, crying softly – with the kryptonite compartment open at his feet.

"Brainy," Superman called softly, wincing when Brainy jumped. "It's alright, close the compartment."

"No…" Brainy whimpered, not looking up, not moving except for his body's tremors and his hands clutching tighter onto his scalp.

Superman looked down the hall as he tried to think. He could get Batman to close off the kryptonite radiation, but then what? Batman would probably take the kryptonite away from Brainy and the Coluan needed it to feel safe, and that wouldn't help him in his attempt to comfort Brainy at all.

Looking back into the room Superman stared at the green light shining onto pale covers, green skin – slowly poisoning Brainy as waking nightmares plagued his mind. He sighed and took in a deep breath.

"Then I'm coming in anyway."

Glancing up in alarm, Brainy's tear-filled eyes widened as Superman walked forward, almost instantly falling to the ground. His mouth then fell open as Superman actually tried to crawl towards him.

He sobbed. "Stop it, stop it, _stop it_!"

"I can't leave," Superman panted, managing to smile weakly up at Brainy. "Not with you crying."

Practically catapulting his arms downward, Brainy hit the compartment closed and threw himself from the bed, kneeling in front of Superman, unaware that tears were beginning to fall from his face onto Superman's.

"Idiot… I'm not worth it."

Slowly reaching up, Superman touched Brainy's face.

"You're always worth it."

Instead of calming Brainy it made him cry harder, holding onto Superman's hand with a certain level of desperation.

Regaining some of his strength, Superman sat up, slowly moving to wrap his arms around Brainy so he could pull back if he wanted.

Allowing the embrace, Brainy leaned against Superman, calming as the older man began to stroke his back.

"Would you like to tell me why you had the kryptonite open?" asked Superman, not stopping his caresses of Brainy's back, even after the sobs had mostly diminished.

"It seemed like such a good idea at the time," Brainy sniffled softly, not looking up at Superman as he spoke. "Just to leave it open and keep him away."

"It's alright; he's on the far side of the building, powerless. He doesn't even know that you're here," Superman tried to reassure him.

"No," said Brainy firmly. "He knows I'm here. I know he knows."

Realizing that this was very possible, Superman didn't know what to say. Continuing to stroke Brainy's back, he was finding it very hard to resist his urge to kiss him like he would his Brainy.

"You're safe… I'm here."

"Yes, but for how long?" Brainy's voice was incredibly soft.

"What?" asked Superman, unsure of what to think of the question.

Brainy finally looked up at Superman, his eyes red and swollen from crying.

"You don't belong to this world. You don't belong… to me. You have to leave eventually. You can't protect me forever. I just want to know how long I'll have you."

Very slowly, Superman reached up and cupped Brainy's face with his hand.

"As long as you need me."

Brainy's smile looked pained.

"You might want to rephrase that, because that would be forever."

Even after Brainy had fallen asleep, Superman sat on the floor holding him, gently stroking his back.


	4. Part 1 Chapter 4

07/01/09

Wow I haven't updated in _ages_.... Not since... April?! Man, that's ridiculous! What happened to the days I could update everyday? T-T

Well... I hope you enjoy. Lots of love to FunyFish1991 for not only beta reading but making this chapter possible.

I don't remember who I have and haven't thanked for fanart anymore so if I haven't thanked you yet please send me a PM and let me know.

Again, enjoy.

Chapter 4

Superman was close to panic as he stood open-mouthed in front of Batman, staring at the other man's inscrutable, half-concealed face.

"You must be joking, Batman! I can't do that!"

"You don't have a choice."

Superman frowned worriedly; with just a trace of annoyance at the fact that he didn't even have a retort for that. Batman was right – which really was the worst part of a dismal situation.

It had been three weeks and four days since Superman had rescued the alternate version of Brainiac Five from the chilling Fortress of Lord Superman: and they had been busy weeks. When he wasn't catching sleep or speeding down meals, Superman was being ordered by both his Batman and the former Lord Batman to help them finalize and – in the case of the silently staring alternate J'onn J'onzz – actually create the prisons of the decommissioned Lords.

After a few days of this, and while inside a local convenience store in a brown trench coat and wide-brimmed hat, having been sent to get Oreos to try and placate the Martian, Superman had reached the conclusion that the Batmans were working together to keep him away from Brainiac Five.

When he had been crunching heavy cables into place in the walls of the new anti-phasing chamber Normal and Lord Batman had designed, he had been mildly surprised and pleased to see Brainy entering the chamber with a clipboard in his hand and his I-am-concentrating-so-leave-me-alone-if-you-please expression on his face. It made sense, he realized later, since it was highly likely that Brainy had had no small part in the design of the Martian's containment chamber. But before he had had the opportunity to greet the young scientist, Batman had appeared with an emergency in Lord Hawkgirl's temporary cell.

When he had returned, Lord Batman had informed him that Brainy had just left with no explanation. A quick scan of the building located the Coluan safely in his room – but Superman was not too surprised when his help was once again suddenly needed in the control room.

It was also apparent that Brainy had been having nightmares. Superman heard him crying out when he checked on him with his super-hearing, but after being turned away from the door several times in Brainy's refusal for help he simply stayed up in his own room until he could no longer hear the Coluan's sobbing.

Now Batman was telling him that he had to return to their own world: apparently the Justice League needed them.

"Can't they handle it without us?" Superman tried to wiggle his way out of it.

"No," was Batman's stoic answer.

"What about the prisons for the Lords?" Superman tried again.

"Finished," Lord Batman's answer came in the same way.

"What about Brainy?" Superman then pleaded.

"What about me?" came a soft voice that didn't match the questioning nature of the statement.

Superman turned and looked at him. This was the first time they had been in the same room together and had had the chance to exchange words; to properly look at each other before one was sent away, and he didn't like what he saw. Instead of growing into any state of health like he had hoped and even expected, Brainy almost seemed smaller than when he first met this version of his friend, his eyes were dull and there were dark bags under them. And though it had been three weeks since the fortress, possibly longer since this Brainy had even seen Lord Superman, his cuts and bruises still looked fresh. If he wasn't mistaken there were even new ones as well.

With an almost angry frown, Superman turned to the Batmans, crossing his arms as he had as a child when he made to defy his parents.

"I'm not going."

"Yes you are," was the reply from both Batmans.

It hadn't worked on his parents either.

"Going?" Brainy's voice cracked from behind him.

When he turned to look at him again Superman saw that Brainy was shaking, eyes on the floor, clutching his clipboard as if unsure whether to drop it or break it and he could hear the Coluan's heart panicking.

Not taking his eyes off him, Superman spoke to the Batmans.

"If I'm going then he's coming with us."

"No." Once again the answer came from both Batmans in unison.

But if there was anything, anything in any world that Superman was willing to fight Batman on – even two of him – it was Brainiac Five.

"This is not up for discussion." He gave his most convincing glare, saved for the most serious of situations. "He is coming with us, and neither of you have any say in this."

"Do I?" Brainy asked indignantly from behind him.

Superman turned to see magenta eyes filled with a strength that had been lacking from this Brainiac Five's eyes since the first time he'd seen them in that ice prison, even through the welling tears, and his stomach clenched.

"Have you considered Batman's reasoning behind his refusal to allow me to cross into a separate reality? Have you forgotten what happened last time someone from my dimension strayed into yours? You don't think, Clark."

The scolding from Brainy was so wonderfully familiar in the way it made him feel ridiculously embarrassed, and like such an incredible idiot, that Superman found himself fighting the urge to leap in and hug Brainy. He knew, however, that nobody besides him would appreciate such a gesture.

He then voiced an argument that was low enough to make him cringe inside, but that he would not have held back for any reason.

"Would you rather stay here?"

Brainy pursed his lips, and did not allow any outward signs of how deep that comment had bitten except for the reappearance of the watery brightness in his eyes.

"I would consider it the better of two options. At least here I can be of use aiding Lord" – he gave this title with clear derision in his voice – "Batman with the containment of... some of the former Leaguers. Besides, your presence here with your reality's Batman in the vicinity of your duplicates cannot be doing our space continuum any good. It would be foolish of me to compound this by jumping across dimensional barriers with you any time you feel the need: and do not try to convince me you won't want to come back and 'check up' on the Lords. I refuse to run the risk of coming into contact with another version of myself, since even I have no idea what that could be doing this very moment to reality as we know it."

Superman ignored the tensing of both Batman's chins in what he was fairly certain was an attempt to suppress smirks. He was no longer aware of the firm set of Brainy's jaw, or the lack of tears now in his strong, dark eyes.

His stomach was churning, pulling and twisting as though he were in a vortex, and he felt so ill he had to seek out the computer chair at Lord Batman's Batcave computer panel and drop his head into his hands.

_What about _your_Brainiac Five?_

"Clark?"

Under any other circumstances he would have been pleased to hear Brainy walking towards him but now it only made his frown deepen.

"There's little risk of you running into your counterpart."

There was silence. Brainy looked at the Batmans while they looked at each other.

Swerving around in the chair, Superman lowered his hands and caught Brainy's eye; neither pleading nor demanding.

"Please come."

Brainy fixed him with a look that he knew meant that he thought this was a bad idea, but was willing to go along with it in the spirit of discovery, and he realized that he had won this round.

"Alright," Brainy sighed. "I'll come until whatever crisis your Justice League is having is over. Then I am returning."

His voice having abandoned him, Superman could only nod and drop his head back down.

"Then we should leave immediately," Batman threw into the silence, before stalking away.

"You will be alright by yourself?" Brainy asked Lord Batman, with only the slightest hint of a question behind the words.

The former Justice Lord nodded anyway, and Brainy turned to the glowing portal on the other side of the room with a somewhat apprehensive expression. Batman was already standing beside it, watching him and Superman inscrutably.

The Coluan cleared his throat and glanced down at the man still slumped in the chair. "Clark? It's time to go."

He watched the Kryptonian's face as he mentally shrugged off whatever thoughts were plaguing him and rose to his feet.

"Right behind you, Brainy."

As Brainiac 5 followed Batman through the swirling inter-dimensional vortex, not knowing whether he would actually end up in a physical place, a limbo or Phantom Zone, or just get digitally scrambled and lost forever in space, he found that his foremost worry was centered on the people on the other side of this door. It was an illogical thing to be considering, since he was fairly certain that anyone who tried to harm him would be coming into close contact with the Man of Steel's fists, but worried he was all the same.

He had not yet found a method of consoling himself when his foot landed on something that vibrated slightly, letting him know that it was some sort of metal sheet, and he was suddenly confronted with what he recognized to be one of the interior labs of the original Justice League Watchtower.

Arranged in a loose semicircle around the portal opening were three Leaguers he knew instantly to be the famous Princess Diana – Wonder Woman –, Wally West – the second Flash –, and J'onn J'onzz – the Martian Manhunter. He studied their shocked faces carefully, searching for any sign that they would attack him.

After just a few seconds, he walked the few steps forward and came to a stop in front of the towering and undeniably stunning Amazon. He stared her in the eyes for just a moment, before dipping into a bow.

"Princess."

She was clearly surprised at his greeting, and could only manage a responding inclination of her head, leaving him to move onto the Martian. When standing in front of him, he brought his right fist up to his opposite shoulder, palm facing downwards, pressing his hand to it for a few moments, before opening out his fingers to display the back of his hand to the Leaguer.

J'onn, too, appeared surprised, but responded quickly enough in the same manner to betray a certain eagerness: seeming even more silently pleased when Brainy tapped three fingers on the upper curve of his right ear in an acknowledgement of the other alien's superior status.

"A pleasure to meet you, young Coluan," he said in his low monotone. "How is it that you know so well the customs of a culture long-since destroyed?"

Brainy couldn't quite meet the Martian's gaze as he answered.

"From the retention of cultural knowledge from Brainiac 1.0."

"I'm sorry," Flash butted in, stepping over with a serious but curious expression on the visible bottom half of his face. "What of the what from the who now?"

"Wonder Woman, J'onn, Flash," Superman stepped towards the four diplomatically, standing beside but still slightly in front of Brainy and setting his hand on the smaller man's shoulder. "This is my best friend – Brainiac Five."

Nobody said anything for a long time. Long enough for Superman to start feeling uncomfortable and for Brainy to start feeling nervous.

"He's a…"

"Brainiac?!"

The new voice came from the doorway, and everyone in the room turned to look at Hawkgirl standing there beside Green Lantern.

Neither looked happy.

"Is that true? Is that a Brainiac?" Hawkgirl demanded, lifting her mace menacingly.

"Are you crazy, Superman?" Green Lantern snapped. "You brought a Brainiac into our station?"

"Yes, I did, b–"

But he was interrupted by a loud war cry. He turned with shock to see Hawkgirl soaring across the room, mace raised above her head – headed straight for Brainy.


	5. Part 1 Chapter 5

07/16/09

For some reason 16 has always been my favorite number... Random tidbit there. :3

I'm almost done typing up a notebook of a story I want to publish. When I'm done with the notebook I'll be able to finish the story and _then_ work on getting published. |3 I should probably get a "How to get published for Dummys" book. XD

ENJOY!

Chapter 5

Brainy's hand instinctively went to his waist; eyes widening when he was forcibly reminded that his forcefield belt was no longer there.

His own eyes narrowing, Superman grabbed Hawkgirl's mace with one hand and tore it out of the red haired woman's hands, simultaneously turning and taking hold of the back of her clothes so that he was holding her and her weapon apart with the full span of his arms.

At the same time Batman threw a heavy batarang at the charging Green Lantern, almost smirking when it exploded in front of the other man and covered him in a thick yellow powder.

"What the hell?" the current Green Lantern, John Stewart, yelled, trying to wipe the powder from his eyes.

Hawkgirl flapped her wings about, making it as hard as she could for Superman to keep hold of her as she cursed and tried to lay punches and kicks on the Man of Steel.

"Really Batman, was that necessary?" Wonder Woman walked away for a moment to return with a towel for John.

"You think saying 'stop' would have worked?" Batman raised an eyebrow at her.

Superman turned to see if Brainy was alright, but he froze when he saw that he was no longer behind him.

"Someone let me know when it's safe to be in the lion's den again," came Flash's voice from the far side of the room.

Superman relaxed when he saw that Flash had scooped Brainy up and run off to a safe distance, but tried not to smile too much at Brainy as he glared at the red-clad superhero for carrying him like a damsel in distress.

He then winced when his relaxed stance allowed Hawkgirl to land a punch on him, causing her to shout out in pain and spew more curses.

--

It was very quiet in the Justice League conference room, but the air was tense. Superman sat at his usual seat, glancing a little nervously but mostly curiously around at the faces of the various Leaguers. Next to him Brainy sat on a chair they'd pulled in from the kitchen, staring worriedly every so often at the Green Lantern, who was glaring steadily back, but mostly training his gaze on his lap, where his hands twisted nervously. Wonder Woman was on Brainy's other side watching Hawkgirl warily, and Flash was next to her, darting his eyes jumpily around the room.

J'onn J'onzz seemed the most composed, and was the first to speak. "If we can behave ourselves for a moment or two, we do have a mission to attend to."

Turning to look behind him, the Martian activated the viewscreen to show Toyman riding on a giant cartoonish wind-up train with rubber wheels along the city's roads. Haunting each side of it were his big toy soldiers with explosive guns. Even from the viewscreen they could see that the train was being loaded with stolen goods by his other toys of giant colorful animals.

"Toyman stealing with his toys," Hawkgirl rolled her eyes, then narrowed them on Superman. "He's _simple_ enough to take care of."

J'onn raised his hand for silence.

There was an explosion somewhere at the location on the viewscreen and a woman – African American, early twenties – appeared next to Toyman with another bag of goods. She wore red lipstick, and short, wavy black hair. Her clothes consisted of a baggy light blue jacket with yellow trimmings that made it look a little like a dyed lab coat, cut off at her midsection, dark blue puffy pants with yellow circles dotted in the middle on her knees, yellow and blue roller skates, a similarly colored fingerless glove on her right hand and a yellow mask styled similar to Static's.

"If her hair was dreaded she could be Static's twin," Green Lantern narrowed his eyes at the image before returning to glaring at Brainy, who was doing his best to ignore him.

"She looks older than him though," Wonder Woman pointed out.

"That's Peek-A-Boo," Flash told them. He saw Green Lantern opening his mouth. "And no, I'm not joking, GL."

Batman turned to look at him. "She's from your city?"

Though it wasn't really a question, Flash nodded. "Yeah, she's from good ol' Central City alright. She's a teleporter, but there are explosions wherever she teleports from. She's really not a bad kid," –He ignored Green Lantern's comment about them being practically the same age – "She just got stuck in crime after trying to get her Dad a kidney."

"That's nice," Hawkgirl snapped impatiently. "Let's go get them!"

The Leaguers had almost all cleared the room when Green Lantern turned in the doorway to glare at Superman.

"Lock him up."

Superman's mouth very nearly fell open. "I'm sorry?"

"You heard me, Superman. I refuse to have a Brainiac running loose in our station. Lock him in the containment center and get down to Earth as soon as possible."

He left Superman staring in indignant shock after him, while Brainy stood and frowned.

"I can't believe that he would let prejudice force such a foolish decision. I can help you."

Superman turned to him and sighed. "I don't think he or Hawkgirl would listen even if you did." He thought of Green Lantern's _order_ as he turned back to look at the door through which the other hero had just left, and frowned. "Just... stay here..."

"I don't see the point in bringing me here if all I'm going to do is sit here and twiddle my thumbs!" Brainy called in annoyance after his retreating back.

--

It didn't take long for the battle to go way south. Peek-A-Boo kept teleporting circles around the Leaguers every few seconds, causing explosions all around them and forcing a good part of their time to be concentrated on protecting the fleeing civilians. Then, as if that wasn't enough, Toyman opened part of his train to unleash at least twenty life-size Superman action figures that were super strong, flew, and shot lasers from their eyes.

"Still think Toyman is simple enough to take care of?" Superman puffed out, throwing one of his doubles into a kickboxing kangaroo.

Hawkgirl used her mace to knock off a toy Superman's head and growled, "Shut up!"

From the ground, Flash avoided several of the toy Supermans while carrying a red haired woman to safety, then ran back in time to just miss tackling Peek-A-Boo and barely dodging her parting explosion.

"If anyone has any bright ideas on how to deal with this mess, I'd love to hear some!" the speedster shouted as he ground to a stop and covered his eyes from the intense light.

"I have a plan," came a non-Leaguer's voice over their communication earpieces.

"You!" Green Lantern said the word like a curse before swinging to Superman. "I told you to lock him up!"

"You did what?" came Batman's seemingly calm, even voice.

It made Green Lantern's eyes dart around the battleground looking for him. He swallowed when he couldn't locate the Dark Knight.

With three swings of her mace, Hawkgirl took out another Superman toy. "He's a Brainiac – he can't be trusted!"

"Come on Hawkgirl he's Superman's friend you trust _him_ don't you?" Flash asked speedily, succeeding in taking some loot from the train and returning it to its proper location in the huge electronics store, but quickly finding himself blocked by too many Superman toys to try it again.

Wonder Woman's voice, breathing heavily from successfully fighting against as many Superman figurines as she could handle, sagely interrupted the silence on the communication line.

"Listen to the boy."

There was more silence.

"Brainy?" Superman called.

"Oh, she was referring to me?" the Coluan asked innocently before becoming serious. "I've been using your geostationary and communications satellites to scan the battle and have found that the air around Peek-A-Boo heats up even before she's completely gone. Green Lantern can use his ring to douse her with water from the fire hydrant to the left of the train. Even if she is in mid-teleport, it will negate the heat and electrical energy she generates around her body to bend space and jump, so will force her to reform where she was, without any explosion. Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl can keep the toys back so that Flash can then run in and capture her."

"What about the Superidiots?" Hawkgirl smirked; lips widening at Superman's narrowed eyes.

"I was getting to that," Brainy said in a way that reminded them all of Batman when he was foolishly interrupted. "The circuits that allow them to shoot lasers actually make them highly vulnerable to extreme cold. Superman will freeze them with his ice breath, making it simple to dispose of them. J'onn and Batman will then be free to take out Toyman, who I'm sure you've all noticed they have been sneaking up on in the chaos."

There was a chuckle into the silence. "He's good."

They could all hear Flash's grin.

"Shut up," Hawkgirl snapped.

"Follow Brainiac Five's plan," Batman's voice left no room for argument. "Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl, Peek-A-Boo is inside the electronics store still: clear the androids from that vicinity. Superman–"

"I know. I'm ready. Brainy?"

"Yes?"

"Say when."

The Leaguers tensed in anticipation, trying to drown out the screams and alarms blaring around them. Brainy's voice was a gunshot at the start of a race.

"Now!"

Wonder Woman launched forwards and took out two boxing gorillas by smashing their heads together, moving rapidly to the next toys. Superman blasted his doppelgangers with his ice breath and punched holes into the chests of five of the decommissioned robots. J'onn phased out of the ground behind Toyman and gripped his wrist to lift his wiggling feet off the ground, ignoring the short man's indignant shouts and threats.

Batman didn't move, and anyone close enough would have been able to see the slight, shocked widening of the white slits on his cowl. Beneath them, his eyes were trained sharply on the electronics store.

"Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, what are you waiting for?"

"Did you even consider that that Brainiac is lying to us?" Green Lantern's voice ground into his communicator.

"I told you to go along with his plan!"

"And I am telling you I don't trust him!"

It was at that moment that Peek-A-Boo appeared in the shop window, and saw with some surprise the scene outside as Wonder Woman did her best to dispose of the endless supply of giant toys. Hawkgirl hovered above her, mace hanging warily from her right hand.

"Nice try, freaks," Peek-A-Boo said smarmily.

"Oh no you don't!" Flash shouted.

Superman watched in super-speed as Flash took off towards the villain. He saw a slight glow around her body and realized she was teleporting. He began running too, a look of horror suspended on his face when he realized two things simultaneously. One, Flash was not going to take her down before she teleported and the ensuing explosion tore the speedster apart.

And two, he was not going to reach either of them in time to stop it.

He could only watch as Flash sprinted right into a sudden blazing inferno.


	6. Part 1 Chapter 6

09/21/09

Kicking off Clark+Brainy week with a short but sweet chapter. :3

ENJOY!

Chapter 6

The Justice League Watchtower was in a strange sort of quiet chaos from the moment the original seven arrived back there to the present. Flash had been left in the hospital wing of the Watchtower, and two distinct opposing teams and one neutral one had formed across the floor of the control room in the wake of his accident.

On one side, Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman stared in varying degrees of anger and frustration at Green Lantern and Hawkgirl, while J'onn stood off to the side of the miniature battlefield with Brainy, both of them looking a little exasperated and worried.

"Why didn't you follow the plan?" Batman demanded in a steady voice.

"Why would you even consider taking a plan from a Brainiac?!" Hawkgirl demanded in her best harpy voice.

"I've known Brainy longer then I've known any of you," Superman argued. "He's helped me become the hero I am today."

"Right now I'm not sure if that's something to brag about." Green Lantern crossed his arms and ignored the angry twitch of Superman's face.

J'onn stepped forward.

"Let us not say anything else we will regret. It is unfortunate that Flash was hurt, but it was not the fault of Brainiac Five. His plan was logical and well thought out. Nor is it the fault of Green Lantern and Hawkgirl. They have good reason to be skeptical but at the very least they should have trusted their teammates. However, none of us should have expected them to trust Brainiac Five blindly."

"What, are you saying?" Hawkgirl's wings moved agitatedly. "We're all to blame?"

"If you wish to assign blame; then the answer is yes," J'onn nodded just once.

Green Lantern pointed to the Coluan but looked at Superman icily.

"Take him back where he came from."

"You heard what –" Superman began.

"Yes, he did hear what J'onn J'onzz said," Brainy stepped forward, joining the Martian but keeping his arms folded behind him. "It does not change the fact that my presence has changed what may have happened without my interference. It has also caused undue friction in the group. Though it is not an instant solution, sending me back would lessen the strain on your group dynamic."

Remaining silent, Superman observed the younger man closely.

Though Brainy was speaking with an unwavering authority – that tone the Coluan often used when speaking to the Legion, even when he wasn't leader – his voice had the slightest hint of hesitance that Superman only picked up with his superior hearing. There was also the way that he was looking towards them but not actually at any of them, his eyes almost unfocused; lost in his own mind as he concentrated on speaking. Brainy always made a point to make eye contact with those to whom he spoke. He was also shaking; so slightly that it was barely noticeable, while his fingers twirled around, pinched themselves and fiddled with the back of his shirt anxiously behind his back.

Slowly, Green Lantern turned to Hawkgirl, "Did he just agree with me?"

Just as slowly, and without removing her stare from the green-skinned newcomer, Hawkgirl nodded.

A red light flickered on the control panel almost forgotten behind Batman and Wonder Woman; Flash had pressed the help button on his bed side.

Green Lantern and Hawkgirl were the first to rush from the room, followed by a brisk Wonder Woman and Batman in a calm stride.

When the Coluan didn't move, J'onn gently pushed him forward to where Superman waited for them in the doorway. Soon the two of them were walking side by side down the hall while the Martian purposely trailed behind them.

"I'm to blame for Flash's injury," Brainy stated.

Easily able to walk the Watchtower halls without his vision (x-ray or otherwise) if it were ever made necessary, Superman turned to him without needing to slow down.

"You heard J'onn. Your plan was a solid one, of course."

"Yes but you warned me before you left that you didn't think Green Lantern or Hawkgirl would listen to me…. And _I_ didn't listen to _you_. Omitting such a crucial variable was remiss and ultimately destructive on my part."

"You wanted to help."

"I wanted to make myself useful. Instead I was a nuisance."

"It wasn't a –"

Brainy stopped, meeting his eyes.

"Flash was injured, Toyman and Peek-A-Boo escaped, the Justice League is fighting amongst themselves, and I caused it all. You said they wouldn't listen to me: so I should have devised a plan that didn't require their cooperation. I shouldn't have put Flash in such a dangerous situation without some sort of backup to get him out of it quick enough."

With a sharp turn, Brainy looked away. Superman was hit suddenly with the full force of his friend's guilt and powerful regret.

"I used to devise countless plans for the Legion. None of them perfect, but with improvisation nearly all were successful." His shoulders, which had struggled against it since their arrival in this alternate past, finally slumped. "Perhaps my mind was damaged. Perhaps it doesn't work that way anymore, if at all."

Superman tried to take hold of Brainy's fallen shoulders, but he pulled away and the Man of Steel had no choice but to let him.

"You need to give yourself time Brainy. You can't expect to be able to take everything on so quickly. Besides, you're still a 12th level intelligence. The upgrades you made to the Justice Lords' holding cells proves it."

For a long time Brainy just looked at the floor, glanced at the Martian who had stayed a respective distance away, then turned to Superman; his eyes dark and bitter as he glared at him. It was the first glare Superman could ever remember receiving from him since he didn't of course count the period of time that Brainiac 1.0 had been controlling his friend.

"Stop trying to fix me Clark. You can't even hold me together, because you can never hold me. Not the way I need. You're not mine to cling to."

Batman's words rang in Superman's ears, about doing more damage than good, but he still wanted to hold Brainy, and to try to help him even if he fought it – but he couldn't find the strength to move.

"You three coming?" Batman asked, one hand pressed up against the Flash's temporary door.

Not responding, Brainy turned to go to Batman and Superman followed behind.

Soon they were all gathered around Flash as Wonder Woman helped him drink some water.

The red uniform was gone from Flash's body except for his cowl, which was dirtied from the blast debris, singed on his Hermes-style antennae, and the hero was only able to look out at them with one eye, as the other was too swollen from the bruising. His body was covered in bandages, while only his right hand seemed to have escaped the burn of the explosion.

After Wonder Woman pulled the glass away, Flash managed to rasp, "GL, Hawkgirl!" and beckon them closer with his good hand; though that may just have been a twitch of sorts.

When the Amazon stepped away from the bedside, the summoned two stepped a little closer. But Flash's hand beckoned them even further, so they leaned over his beside. When Flash beckoned them still closer they crouched down to his level.

Quickly, Flash lashed out and smacked them both upside the head before shouting out and hissing in pain.

"Flash!" Hawkgirl bolted to her feet.

"What were you thinking?!" Green Lantern stood beside her.

"Exacting my revenge for your stupidity," Flash stated coolly, nursing his injured hand.

They both stared at him.

"You heard me," Flash nodded. "You knew perfectly well that I was counting on you two to go with the plan so I could do my part. Did you even think what would happen if you two held onto your _childish_ prejudice against Superman's pal – I mean buddy. 'Pal' is already taken by that Olsen guy right?"

Superman nodded, trying not to smile too much under the circumstances.

Flash grinned, although it also made him wince as he continued to wag his good index finger at the two gaping Leaguers.

"You two owe me big. You're going to have to cook whatever I want for me until I'm better and then a week after that. In fact, I'm hungry now. I'll take twenty-two cheeseburgers and three chocolate milkshakes. Actually make twenty-three cheeseburgers and four milkshakes. Brainy looks like he could use something to eat. As Grandma Flash would say, 'we need to put some meat on them bones'."

All Brainy could do was stare at him.


	7. Part 1 Chapter 7

Happy New Year!

Chapter 7

For the next few days, Brainy spent most of his time sitting with The Flash. He sat in relative silence, just listening to Flash prattle on; whether to him or his various other visitors – though Brainy left whenever Green Lantern or Hawkgirl came to visit, despite Flash's protests and teasing about being abandoned by his candy striper. When he wasn't sitting with Flash, he typically walked around the few areas Green Lantern and Hawkgirl wouldn't attack him for being in, or stayed in the room Batman had temporarily assigned to him.

There were also times Superman stumbled upon Brainy just sitting with J'onn by a window overlooking Earth. Neither one spoke as Brainy's hands cradled a mug of hot chocolate, while J'onn had milk and cookies.

Superman rarely disturbed these moments; just watching Brainy's reflection in the glass as the Coluan looked down at Earth. His eyes were almost peaceful then, almost free from the haunted look Superman usually saw in those eyes. Not wanting to ruin it, he always left before Brainy looked up and saw him in the glass watching him.

It was probably one of the most agonizing things Superman had ever forced himself to do: staying away from Brainy. His instincts screamed for him to stay by his side, now that there weren't two Batmans giving him the runaround, but he had to admit it when Batman was right; he was doing more harm than good.

But that didn't stop Superman from trying to help Brainy from a distance. He convinced Flash to guilt Brainy into eating solid food when he visited, since Brainy was otherwise on a soup or other liquid diet due to only eating to placate Batman whenever his stomach growled. He also gave J'onn the tip about giving Brainy hot chocolate, knowing Brainy would never pass down an opportunity for a cup of his favorite drink.

Both Flash and J'onn seemed to have grown attached to the little Coluan, Flash joking that he was a 'green buddy magnet' and that Superman should be careful or J'onn would adopt the time-and-dimension traveler. Of course, J'onn denied this; but there were times Superman thought he saw J'onn look at Brainy like he wanted to hug him or pet his hair. And, if J'onn looked at Brainy too long, he almost looked like he was going to cry; it made Superman wonder if the Martian was secretly looking into the Coluan's mind.

It became almost a familiar pattern, coming to the Watchtower to look after Brainy from a distance. Still, it surprised him when Brainy sought him out and said the words he should have known would come eventually.

"I should return to my world and proper time."

"But-"

"It has to be done. I do not belong here, in this dimension and time and there are things to do where I should be."

"I don't understand."

"Clark," Brainy's voice was gentle but firm, as if Clark was the one who needed support. "Lord Superman and the Justice Lords won't be looked upon fondly in my world. That you won't be the beacon of hope that spreads across time and across the galaxy; there won't be a Legion without that beacon to inspire them."

"So you're going to start the Legion yourself?" Superman questioned.

"I'll have to convince a young me to start it since I can't stay for a long period of time in the time when the Legion will first be needed, and it won't be easy," Brainy nodded, "I'm sure there will be a stigma against groups of super powered beings, but the future does need the Legion. I'm sure the Fatal Five will still form, Lightning Lad's brother will still go astray and the Sun Eater will make its way towards Earth; just to name a few."

"You should at least wait until-"

"-Until what, Clark? I'm not going to get magically better staying here with Flash and J'onn taking care of me while you watch me from a distance. And yes I noticed, it was hard not to. I need to move on… to see if I'm capable of it."

"I don't like it."

"You don't have to like it Clark; just let me try."

Clark didn't say anything. He didn't for three days, but in the end Batman took Brainy back to his proper dimension and from there Lord Batman would help him get to his own time.

Brainy hadn't wanted Clark to come.

The Watchtower was already different. Flash was whining about missing his little green buddy and J'onn just sat, looking down on the Earth alone more often. Green Lantern and Hawkgirl, to give them credit, didn't say anything about it.

In the wee hours of the night in Metropolis, Wonder Woman came and sat next to Superman on the Daily Planet roof.

"Go see him; it will do you some good."

"He didn't want me to go," Superman said softly.

Wonder Woman waited until he would look at her and smiled reassuringly. "You know that wasn't the one I was talking about."

How she knew, Superman didn't question. He returned home to Smallville and went to the barn. He found the secret panel in the stairs to the loft and lifted it, getting out the time bubble remote his Brainy had given him.

It didn't take long for Superman to get to the future, to the Legion headquarters that had not been at risk of not existing. He walked through familiar halls and greeted old friends and their children until he got to the lab.

Inside Brainy, his Brainy, was working on something rather massive, kneeling on the ground to weld something to its side.

His Brainy; a green human, his blond hair long and pulled back into a ponytail worked, unknowing of what his counterpart had been through. Loved him without hesitance, without restraint and would never associate fear or pain with him.

Superman walked up to Brainy and knelt behind him, hugging him around his middle and pressing against his back.

"Clark," Brainy half grunted, stopping his work. "Get off, you're heavy."

Superman only held on a little tighter, always conscious of being careful and not inadvertently hurting his love.

"Clark, what's wrong?" Brainy turned as much as he could too look at him.

"In a minute, I'll tell you in a minute," Superman said softly, unsure if he could keep that promise.

Putting down his welder, Brainy laid his arms over Superman's and gently held onto his forearms. He placed a kiss on his cheek and waited.


	8. Part 2 Chapter 1

09/03/12

Long time no see, bet you thought I forgot I had this story, didn't you? ... Considering that last update was 12/31/10 I wonder if anyone else remembers this... I guess we'll see. Enjoy!

Part 2

Chapter 1

On some level, Brainiac Five had always loved Superman. From childhood stories designed to make him fear the last son of Krypton to researching historical archives, the living symbol that inspired a galaxy had always held a strong fascination for him. It was partly that same influence that made him leave Colu and join the Legion.

Earth and it's adoration for their adopted son only made Brainy love him more as well. Visits to the Museum were a weekly escape from the chaos and grind of the Legion that soothed him until the trips became monthly, and then only when he felt the need.

Then the day came were the Legion needed more power then it had at its disposal, and none of the needed strength could be at their disposal in time. It was more then an ample opportunity to bring Superman to the future, it was a perfect chance to know him when he stayed to develop better control of his powers.

Yes, Brainy had always loved Superman but it hadn't taken long for him to actually fall in love with Clark Kent. He was many things that the world, history had never known of Superman.

There was no exact moment when Brainy went from adoring Superman to loving Clark but he can recall the moment he realized it.

During the "Fear Factory Episode," as Bouncing Boy liked to call it, Brainy left his life in Superman's hands. He knew that with the back up disk his 'death' would be short lived but he was very much sentencing himself to die to help Superman become the hero he was meant to be. There was also the possibility that the disk would be destroyed or lost or that his body would be damaged to the point that the disk wouldn't matter.

Was he really willing to die for Superman? No, Superman was the hero. Clark Kent was the one who needed Brainy's death and he would give it to him.

Now it had been a week since Clark left the future to return to his own time to be a copy boy at the Daily Planet and Brainy had to re-learn to live in a world without him. Had to learn to ignore the empty feeling in his chest, despite every diagnostic that told him it was very much full.

Brainy had just returned to the lab after yet another visit to the Museum and was beginning to contemplate searching through the security files to see if he could find a decent picture of Clark when he heard something in the lab, something that sounded like metal being crushed.

When he went towards the part of the lab he heard the noise in, he was welcomed by darkness. Most of the lights had gone out; only a few from humming machines remained to attempt to fight the darkness of the windowless room.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw white clothe round the corner away from him, deeper into the darkened room.

"Phantom Girl, did you do something to the lights?" Brainy rounded the corner after the retreating clothe but immediately stopped once he did.

It was not Phantom Girl sitting in the chair across from him. It was Superman, a fully grown Superman whose image he had just seen at the Museum. Only his face was visible in the lack of light. The cape Brainy had seen must have been Superman's but why had it appeared white?

"Superman," the name left Brainy's lips instinctively. "What- why are you here?"

"I missed you," Superman smiled, swaying in the chair a little but his eyes never left Brainy's face. "I didn't arrive as far in the future as I wanted but I can work with it."

"Have you visited before this?" Brainy did his best to control his voice, not wanting to sound eager or dreading.

Superman smiled in a way that, for whatever reason, made Brainy's heart begin to pound but not in the way he was used to around him. It wasn't nervous or excited. In fact it was like the pounding was somehow slowed, a tingling sensation starting to spread across his skin.

"I visited often," Superman assured him. "There was always something in the future that the past lacked." He stood and took a step towards the Coluan, "Or rather someone."

The tingling was more like a prickling now, and Brainy felt the need to back away but he pushed it aside. It was Clark, why was he reacting like this?

"I don't think you should tell me too much about the future Superman."

"I could tell you everything but it wouldn't matter," Superman stepped forward again, putting his hands on Brainy's shoulders when the boy did take a step back, his smile growing in a way that sent a chill down Brainy's spine rather then the familiar warmth, "Because everything is going to be different now."

Before Brainy could question it, Superman leaned down and kissed him.

Though it was an older Superman, Brainy thought he'd feel something pleasant rather then alarms going through his mind. He stumbled back, falling against one of his machines as his hands rose to cover his searing mouth.

The machine activated and lighted up, giving Brainy a better look at the giver of his first kiss.

This Superman wore a suite of mostly black with two white bands on his forearms, a white belt and white bands above his ankles. There was also a white upside down triangle on his chest and across his shoulders that went back into a white cape; his crest still in red but white inside instead of yellow.

"What's the matter Brainy?" Lord Superman smiled.

If Brainy could find his voice he probably would have screamed.

When Lord Superman moved towards him again Brainy's mind clicked back into focus. He jumped to the side and flew towards his safe with his red sunlight ray gun in it but found it the safe torn out of the wall and smashed.

"I had plenty of time to clean up while you were gone," Brainy could almost hear the smirk in Lord Superman's voice. "I hope you don't mind."

Not wasting time with a reply, Brainy started to turn into battle mode but screamed when something struck his back, forcing a reversion back into normal mode. He fell to his hands and knees, his body shaking.

"Remember all those visits I mentioned before?" Lord Superman tossed aside the tool he had used to strike Brainy. "There were many instances were you talked about the weaknesses of your old robot body. Your battle mode is pretty much permanently jammed, unless of course you have time to fix it." He chuckled, "Of course I'm not going to give you the time to fix it; you're much cuter this way anyway."

Jamming that function was much like fracturing part of Brainy's spine. He could feel his internal healing try to fix what it could but everything was growing darker. Arms no longer able to support him, he fell to the floor but managed to activate the alarm through his Legion ring before his limbs became too heavy to move.

Brainy lost consciousness just as he felt himself being lifted.


	9. Part 2 Chapter 2

09/04/12

Chapter 2

Brainy awoke to a throbbing in the small of his back but the heated pad he felt lying on top of that spot helped mute the pain.

His mind still in a half asleep haze, Brainy noted that the bed he was on was remarkably soft. It was almost what he imagined laying on a giant memory foam pillow felt like but covered in something that was more then likely satin. The blanket he was wrapped in seemed to give off its own heat and was very plush, almost as if made from the same material as the stuffed bear Triplicate Girl showed Brainy in a store once.

Simply going back to sleep was very tempting but the half of Brainy's mind that was awake was buzzing.

The first thing Brainy noticed when he opened his eyes was the color red. The sheets, pillows and blankets were all the same color as Superman's cape.

Superman.

The Superman imposter.

Though instincts screamed for him to jump out of that bed and run as fast as he could, Brainy pushed them aside. Instead he listened for the noise of another person and when he heard none, he cautiously sat up, wincing as his back gave off a twinge at the movement and the heat pad slid off.

Beyond the bed was ice; ice walls, ceilings and floors. Given whom his capturer was, this was more then likely the Fortress of Solitude. The question was; which one?

"It's your first time here, isn't it?" the last voice Brainy wanted to hear asked him.

His back almost screamed in agony when Brainy turned to look at the doppelganger of his friend once he was older. He was still wearing the uniform of mostly black and white, which did seem familiar, from an impartial historical document if he recalled correctly. It only took him a moment to find it in his memory.

"Lord Superman," Brainy questioned not sure if he really wanted to know, "of the Justice Lords from a different dimension."

"You're not a 12th level intellect for nothing," Lord Superman smirked in a way that really didn't suit his face, or rather Clark's face. It was far too dark but this really wasn't Clark, at least not the one he knew.

There was a long period of silence, where they just looked at each other before Brainy asked another question he wasn't sure he wanted to know.

"What do you want with me?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Lord Superman walked towards the bed in a way that was both agonizingly slow, deepening Brainy's sense of dread, and all too fast since all too soon he was sitting on the bed next to Brainy and taking hold of his face via his chin. His eyes were dark in a way that made Brainy very cold inside when he said, "I want you."

This time when Lord Superman tried to kiss him Brainy tried to pull away before their lips could touch but the Kryptonian held him in place. It was hard not to shiver with those smirking lips caressing his when a way he supposed was suppose to be gentle but only made him feel sick. When he tried to pull away again he couldn't stop a small pained noise from escaping him when he tried to use his back.

"I'm sorry I had to do that to you earlier," Lord Superman didn't sound sincere as he picked up the fallen heat pad and pressed it to Brainy's injury. "But you need to learn early on that it's not good for you to resist me."

Brainy did shiver then, never before feeling more trapped then he did with this fallen hero's arms around him like a steel cage.

Ignoring it, Lord Superman used his hand not holding the heat pad to take hold of Brainy's face again, almost as if examining him.

"Admittedly you're not as old as I would have liked," he smiled at Brainy's wince from his caressing the boy's cheek, "But they say if you want the perfect partner you need to train them when they're young."

Though Brainy didn't say anything he was internally wishing he had the capability to vomit.

Letting go of Brainy's face, Lord Superman traced over Brainy's lips as he licked his own.

"There would have been certain advantages of waiting until you became human though." He smiled at Brainy's widened eyes at that statement but continued on as if he didn't notice. "Your mouth doesn't have the flexibility or the ability to expand when you're like this but there are other ways we can have fun together."

Admittedly Brainy didn't understand what the size of his mouth had to do with anything, though from the way Lord Superman said it and his actions thus far he could assume it was something sexual. Still, that wasn't the part his mind kept circling around.

"I… become human?"

"I knew that would get your attention," Lord Superman chuckled in a way that wasn't at all charming. "I suppose I can tell you since it's not going to happen now."

The Kryptonian caressed Brainy's face until he got to his bangs as pushed them out of the way to fully show his Brainiac symbol.

"While facing an enemy in the future we went into the bottle city of Kandor and that's where I first learned about your ancestor. I was pretty angry at you for hiding it and we fought. I suppose in an effort to make it up to me you allowed the original Brainiac access to your mind in order to save Kandor from that future enemy and then restore the planet Krypton with the very technology that enemy was trying to still and return the people of Kandor to their proper size.

'You erased my memory of that incident, worried I would try to fix Kandor in the past as you had in the future but the Martian Manhunter restored my memory when he discovered something hidden away in my own mind from myself. I wasn't happy with you for that, or the Martian for digging around in my head for that matter, but when I confronted you, you said you had been worried about my hating your above everything else," he smirked and caressed Brainy's lips with his thumb, "and you had made it up to me in the most pleasurable of ways."

That was definitely referring to something sexual again and it made Brainy frown. Had Lord Superman captured the Brainiac Five from this dimension? If so what happened to him?

"Now don't make that face," Lord Superman played with Brainy's lips with his thumb. "You liked it, as you will again."

If he hadn't already Brainy was seriously questioning his version of Superman's sanity. It was like he didn't see a difference between the Brainiac Five he had before and the one he was currently holding against his will. He kept saying 'you' and not 'my Brainy' or 'you would have' and it was a bit disturbing, especially when it came to all of this sex talk.

"Now where was I," Lord Superman released Brainy's face for the time being. "Oh yes, because of you allowing Brainiac 1.0 access to your mind he slowly began to take it over, apparently helped by our enemy because he wanted Brainiac as an Allie. You had been fighting him off but at one point you let Brainiac further into your head to save the Legion from an attack and after that he had full control of you. He pretended to still be you at first but then attacked any Legionnaire that got in his way when he tried to take a ship in order to join the enemy.

'Long story short, he almost killed me, digitalized a bunch of planets and some of the Legion but with the help of Saturn Girl, Kel, that is my clone from 41st century, and I went into your mind and helped you drive him out. After you basically kicked him out of your head all your tech just sort of fell off of you and left you as a green human."

Brainy couldn't help but stare at him, shocked that he would do any of the things this imposter would describe but he couldn't find a reason for the Kryptonian to lie about any of it, especially since he said he didn't think it would happen now.

"Though none of that will happen now," Lord Superman said off handedly. "No Legion to take me to the future and teach me to be a hero since I'm not viewed as a hero anymore and yet it still happened; time travel is strange isn't it? Oh, I doubt Kel would be created either, so no Superman X for the 41st century, if it even gets that far without the Legion to stop the sun eater." He shrugged, "Not my problem."


	10. Part 2 Chapter 3

09/05/12

Chapter 3

That made Brainy want to scream, not out of fear but because he was angry. How could any version of Clark think like that? How could any version of Clark become this lunatic that somehow jumped to other dimensions to kidnap someone to be, from his understanding, some sort of pet?

"I think that's enough story time for today," Lord Superman concluded. "I have computer scramblers throughout the fortress so your healing powers will take a lot longer to fix your back."

The Kryptonian pushed Brainy back down onto the bed in a way that didn't hurt but didn't give him the option of refusing either. Looking down at him, Lord Superman smiled in a way that again made Brainy's inside feel like they froze over.

"I want you to heal as quickly so we can get started."

This time Brainy didn't resist when Lord Superman kissed him but stayed as still as he could, not wanting to encourage him in anyway.

When he pulled back, Lord Superman just smiled and petted Brainy's hair.

"Good boy."

Brainy watched as Lord Superman stood and turned to leave the room.

"I'm not leaving the Fortress so don't try anything foolish," Lord Superman told him with a dark, warning look before he turned once more and left the room.

Once he was gone Brainy lifted his hand and looked at it. He tried to change it into a laser gun, a torch and then a screwdriver but none of his commands could reach it. That meant, along with no battle mode and a hindered healing ability, he had no weapons or even tools at his disposal. His flight ring and force field belt were also gone.

Even with a 12th level intelligence his odds of getting out of this wasn't good.

Still there was nothing he could attempt until he was healed and at least he was alone so he could think.

Why could his mind only think of what could do wrong?

Lord Superman left Brainy alone for a majority of the day, though it was hard to tell without his internal clock or sunlight, but he returned when it must have been time to go to bed. Without saying anything Lord Superman lifted Brainy slightly and took the heat pad, reheating it with his heat vision, which he may have practiced since it didn't burn Brainy when the heat pad was back in place.

And though the thought had crossed his mind earlier, Brainy was still surprised when Lord Superman moved to get into the bed with him. He knew there would be no point in leaving the bed, the Kryptonian could just force him back with minimal effort but he scooted as close to the edge as he could without falling off. It was a second surprise that Lord Superman didn't immediately pull Brainy back, but he would take whatever break he could get, no matter how small.

Even after Lord Superman had fallen asleep Brainy did nothing. He knew the Kryptonian could very well be faking and, even if he wasn't, he still possessed superior hearing and was probably aware of any sound Brainy would make. Even if Brainy was foolish enough to try to get out of the bed he had no plan to escape in his currant condition and with his lack of information.

He knew he was at the Fortress of Solitude but which one? Was it in his dimension or Lord Superman's dimension? Then once he narrowed that down he needed to know when they were to know what technology or allies he would have at his disposal once he escaped. Then there was the matter of contacting whatever allies that were out there without the use of his Legion ring or any technology other then himself and at the moment that technology was useless.

It was hard to ignore that Brainy had just referred to himself as useless but he did to think about his options.

Even if Lord Superman hadn't been right next to him Brainy doubted he would have been able to sleep with all the thoughts running through his mind.

When Lord Superman woke up and attempted to move Brainy, he hissed in pain to convince his captor that his back was still injured. Apparently he must have at least a decent level of acting skills for the Kryptonian seemed to buy it, reheating the pad with his heat vision again before going to the bathroom. Still, he wasn't sure how long faking his injury would work since he had no idea how much this so called Lord knew about his technology and healing systems or how badly they would be hindered by the scramblers.

If an injury of this sort happened to a normal organic person, if it hadn't killed him, would take weeks if not months to heal. At most he may have another day before he was fully healed beyond minor pain that would queue him of when to exaggerate it, possibly two, but he felt he would have a week of leeway before Lord Superman became suspicious of him.

That gave him a week to try to look around, find possible escape routes, without letting on that he was no longer an invalid. It would be rather difficult if he couldn't leave the bed but he couldn't hope to escape without at least a basic layout of where he was since incomplete historical files could only take so long.

Brainy hoped he could find a way out of there before Lord Superman felt ready to start his plans. He knew he didn't want to know what those were.

Lord Superman came back into the bedroom, looking like he had recently showered with only a towel on him… massaging his scalp.

As soon as Brainy saw he looked away, face heating up exponentially. As much as he didn't like this version of Superman he felt rather strange about what he saw.

Brainy let out a gasp when Lord Superman grasped Brainy's face and turned him so Brainy had to look at him. It made his face grow hotter and he swallowed, not sure what he was supposed to or could do.

"You might as well take a good look Brainy, you'll be seeing me this way very often," Lord Superman put his hand over Brainy's chest, caressing down to the plain of his stomach. "And I look forward to seeing you naked as well; I never saw you naked when you were a cyborg." He smiled, "I've never been very patient though."

Brainy's eyes widened as Lord Superman began to pull his shirt upward.


	11. Part 2 Chapter 4

09/06/12

Chapter 4

It was instincts more then anything that made Brainy grab the helm of his shirt, trying to keep it down. Right after he did it he realized how stupid it was; if Lord Superman wanted Brainy's shirt off then he doubted the dictator would care about Brainy's opinion in the manner. The Kryptonian could force his clothes off or simply rip them apart if the urge so hit him.

Instead of reacting negatively, like Brainy expected, Lord Superman chuckled.

"You always were rather shy," Lord Superman let go of Brainy's shirt and cupped his face, his heated hand on the chilled green skin almost feeling as if it could burn him. "Alright then, today we'll have fun a different way."

That did not sound like a good alternative.

As if confirming Brainy's suspicions Lord Superman, still very much naked, propped Brainy, who still had the right of mind to make pained expressions at the appropriate times, so Brainy was sitting up rather then laying down and then sat in front of him in a way that put himself on full display.

For a moment Brainy thought he was safe. What could Lord Superman do to him when he was fully clothed? And even with the nude display he could easily just look at the Kryptonian's face to avoid the lower down problem, or maybe the wall past Lord Superman's shoulder. It really was a shame there wasn't anything more interesting hanging on the wall but perhaps he could find patterns in the ice.

A groan, however, caught Brainy's attention and he made the mistake of fully looking at Lord Superman. What he saw almost made him run, no escape plan and injured back a technicality.

Lord Superman was touching himself. Not on his chest or anywhere remotely innocent. No, he was stroking his member and looking at Brainy in a way that could only be described as hungry.

It reminded Brainy of an old Earth saying, "like looking at a car crash; it's horrible but you can't look away" though the wording may have been slightly off.

Brainy's face was boiling to the point where he thought he may faint, mouth opening and closing wordlessly and mind buzzing with too many thoughts and utter nonsense to make sense of any of it. A thought finally pushed its way to the front screaming:

LOOK AWAY!

The Coluan looked away so fast all the muscles in his neck screamed in protest, along with his back. He almost screamed with them when Lord Superman shouted;

"Don't you dare look away!"

It was slower then before but Brainy did turn back. There was something in Lord Superman's voice that made him know that disobeying would be nothing short of painful.

When Brainy looked back at him, Lord Superman smiled, "There you go; that's a good boy."

That was the second time Lord Superman referred to him as a good boy. Brainy couldn't help but think this reinforced his pet theory.

Another groan escaped Lord Superman at a good stroke, licking his lips as he captured Brainy's gaze with his own.

"God, Brainy, you have no idea how much you tempt me, how much you've always tempted me."

Brainy swallowed, wishing he could turn off his hearing, his vision or wake up from this whole thing. Yes, waking up was his best option.

Why wasn't he waking up?

"You're the whole reason I joined the Legion, you know," Lord Superman continued. "I wanted to fuck you."

That seemed like a blatant lie. None of his interactions, especially not his early ones, with Superman gave off anything more then friendly interest. Then again, he never took this Superman to the future; those interactions could have been completely different.

"I wasn't quite sure about you until I hung out with that Alexis," Lord Superman didn't bother waiting for Brainy to respond. "You were so jealous; I knew you wanted me too. That was the only thing that kept me from sleeping with her; the slut."

The idea that any Superman would want to sleep with, meaning to have sex with, Alexis was more then a little disturbing but that wasn't what Brainy's mind focused on. Had he been jealous of Superman hanging out with Alexis? He remembered being angry at him for not picking up his call and then disappointed and annoyed when Superman skipped their patrol together but did that equate jealousy?

And if it had been jealousy had his Superman noticed?

"Of course I couldn't make my move then, not after you got your arm blown off. I had to work hard to get back into your favor, to make you let down your guard," Lord Superman moaned, playing with the tip of his member. "I was about ready to actively pursue you when that damn sun eater appeared and then after that the Legion wanted me to leave; didn't want to risk getting me killed before I could fulfill my destiny I suppose. If the Legion still existed I bet they'd regret that."

Brainy tried very hard not to think of a future without the Legion. He tried very hard not to count the numerous times Metropolis, if not the entire Earth, would have been obliterated without them. He tried to block out the fact that his friends may never have met or, even worse that they would never exist outside of never becoming Legionnaires.

"Good thing you got another major baddie or you may have never called on me again; you even came to get me," Lord Superman smirked as if that proved something. "I wasn't going to hesitate the second time but we were constantly on missions and hardly together; it was so frustrating."

As he talked Lord Superman's hand began to stroke himself faster.

"Then you became human and you wanted to leave the Legion out of guilt but I wasn't about to let you get away," Lord Superman was practically growling now but it seemed to be out of pleasure more then anger. "When you tried to sneak out during Kel's swearing in I followed you and you were practically putty in my hands with all the new feelings and sensations, it was easy enough to manipulate you to stay."

Lord Superman's eyes were almost impossibly dark as his eyes drew Brainy in, in a way that was truly frightening.

"Not too long later you were mine. You were always mine, Brainy. You belong to me and no one else; I'd kill anyone you tried to take you away, anyone."

With a shout Lord Superman came, Brainy felt the Kryptonian's ejaculation hit him in the face, mostly on his cheek and a little on his forehead. It began to drip but Brainy didn't move, could barely think.

It was very unlikely he was going to get out of this unscathed.


	12. Part 2 Chapter 5

09/07/12

Chapter 5

"Towel?"

"…What?"

"For your face," the Lord Superman robot clarified, offering a damp hand towel to Brainy.

After Lord Superman had finished, for lack of a word that didn't make Brainy feel ill, the Kryptonian had dressed and carried Brainy to what looked like the main part of the Fortress. There were statues of Lord Superman's Kryptonian parents and some old technology, along with a couch that looked out of place but that's where Lord Superman set Brainy down before going to sit among the old technology and start working on something small.

Without anything to focus on and trying not to think about what just happened Brainy's mind drifted until the robotic duplicate of Lord Superman, half of it's outer disguise torn off to reveal the metal and wires underneath, approached him. Though Brainy heard what the robot had said he wasn't quite up to processing it yet and just stared at him.

When Brainy did not respond the robotic Lord Superman knelt beside him and began to wipe off Brainy's face, his touch surprisingly gentle. Not speaking, the robot cleaned the Coluan's face, some of his hair and shirt from the bodily fluid his master had no doubtedly ejaculated onto the cyborg before they came to the main room. His programming recognized him as Brainiac Five but knew he was not the one who was under his care before.

Standing, robot Lord Superman turned to his creator.

"Master, I thought you had gone to retrieve Brainiac Five."

"That is Brainy," Lord Superman didn't pause in his work to answer.

"This one is far too young to be Brainiac Five," the robot pressed.

"He's not the one who was here before but he is Brainiac Five," Lord Superman pointed out.

"Why did you not retrieve the original?" the robot questioned further.

"I no longer have a time bubble remote," Lord Superman began to sound annoyed now. "I had to use the dimensional portal and that was designed to go to the other dimension, slightly in the past of us and Lord Batman, in his infinite wisdom, locked out the other dimension we had gone to before so I had to go to another dimension and shoot blindly into the future. I was lucky I got to a time where there was a Brainiac Five."

That only made think Brainy he had very bad luck and he didn't believe in that sort of thing. Then again he now knew there was a dimensional portal somewhere that he could use to get home, if he could find it, and he had a possible alley in this dimension's Batman since he had tried to lock Lord Superman out of the portal to begin with.

"I do not understand," the Lord Superman robot looked at Brainy a moment before turning to his master. "Why would you want a Brainiac Five who was not your Brainiac Five?"

"Because Brainy is Brainy and he is mine now shut up before I tare out your voice box!" Lord Superman growled, eyes blazing red.

The robot knew better then to say anything, to even confirm that he had heard. Instead he returned his attention to Brainy and spoke softly, "Do you wish for some nourishment?"

"He eats with me or not at all," Lord Superman's voice held a hint of warning.

It was a good thing Brainy did not have to eat very often. He was going to avoid breaking bread with a dictator if he could.

Without acknowledging him, the robotic Lord Superman left the room.

Now feeling more clear headed, Brainy looked more around the room. There were many side rooms, some old artifacts, more then likely from old battles, but the most noticeable thing was the long corridor just to the side of the statues of Lord Superman's Kryptonian parents.

A moment later the robot returned with a glass of water, offering it to Brainy.

Looking over at Lord Superman, Brainy hesitated to take it. He would be able to last longer without eating if he drank water but he didn't want to get the robot in trouble, he was the only relatively decent thing about this place.

"He said _eat_ not _drink_," the robotic Lord Superman clarified.

Though Lord Superman heard him, he was ignoring him, so Brainy took the water and began to sip it. He hesitated but he asked the robot, "What happened to the other Brainiac Five?"

"He was rescued by Superman from the other dimension after the Justice League temporarily stripped my master and his fellow Justice Lords of their powers and imprisoned them with Lord Batman as their warden," the robot explained.

"Abducted, he was abducted from me," Lord Superman growled, glaring at the robot with red eyes again.

"Abducted," the robot amended. "After Brainiac Five left here, we do not know what happened."

"The bastard probably kept Brainy for himself," Lord Superman went back to whatever he was working on.

"Indeed," the robot didn't seem to agree but was nodding anyway.

Deciding it was best not to comment Brainy thought over the new information. The other Brainiac Five wasn't dead, that at least was good to know. There was also another Superman who had known what this Lord Superman had done but dimension was locked away so there little chance of a rescue mission from him. Lord Batman would definitely be an alley if he somehow found out about Brainy, though he may come anyway since he was Lord Superman's warden but there was no knowing whether or not Lord Batman was even alive since Lord Superman had escaped somehow.

His best plan of action was to try and get a message to Lord Batman and whether or not he succeeded he would have to try to escape. He would need to find his Legion flight ring, his belt would be a bonus but the ideal thing would be the ring.

Lord Superman continued to work on his small device and Brainy theorized about the most likely placed the Kryptonian could have hidden his ring.


	13. Part 2 Chapter 6

09/08/12

Chapter 6

That night Lord Superman took off his cape and gloves to go to sleep.

Since he had not done that the night before Brainy theorized that it was something the Kryptonian was doing to get him used to be close to him with less and less clothes. Tomorrow night he'd probably go to bed without his shirt and then continue similarly each night until he was without his underwear.

It would be best if Brainy could be gone by then.

Testing a theory, Brainy did not move away from him this time but he still did not attempt to sleep. He also tried not to wince when the Kryptonian put an arm around him like he was some sort of teddy bear.

The following morning Lord Superman repeated his masturbation routine from yesterday, saying things that Brainy didn't really understand about the future and claiming possession on him that scared him until it ended in ejaculation. Like the day before he was set on the couch while Lord Superman worked on some sort of device and the robot helped him clean up and brought him some water.

Out of the things he listed for his escape, Brainy somehow forgot to add his shoes to the list. Honestly he was just so used to wearing them, even when he slept, that he hadn't noticed they were gone until his feet began to get cold from the frigid air within the ice fortress.

When Brainy wrapped his hands around his feet to try to warm them the robotic Lord Superman noticed and asked his master where Brainy's shoes where. His master, in turn, told him that he threw the shoes away, with a few profanities mixed in.

Not allowing Brainy shoes was just another way to control him. Without shoes he was less likely to try and walk around the fortress since eventually the ice floors would eventually do damage to even his feet without protective coverings. The same theory could be applied to trying to escape since everything around the fortress was even colder and spanned a distance far too long to walk even with layers of snow equipment.

Similar to his reaction of his master not allowing Brainy food if he did not eat with him, the robotic Lord Superman retrieved Brainy a blanket to wrap around his feet.

As Brainy predicted Lord Superman took off his shirt to go to sleep that night. Again Brainy did not move away from him, though he did flinch when the Kryptonian's arms came around him this time. He didn't think he could sleep even if he wanted to.

In the morning, after Lord Superman's masturbation, he didn't get dressed and immediately take Brainy downstairs to sit on the couch as he worked like the previous two mornings. Instead he left and when he returned he was carrying something.

"You've been such a good boy Brainy," Brainy managed not to make a face when Lord Superman said that. "I think you deserve a little reward."

Kneeling down beside Brainy, Lord Superman took hold of Brainy's left hand and slipped it onto his ring finger, knowing full well that is not where Legionnaires wore their rings and, more then likely, to make Brainy think of the Terran courting custom dealing with rings. Never before had Brainy despised his Legion ring but he could learn to if the Kryptonian continued with that line of thought.

Unaware of Brainy's thoughts Lord Superman kissed the top of Brainy's hand, "This will help you move around a bit better until your back is fully healed but I don't feel comfortable with you doing anything more then hovering."

It sounded more like a threat then a concern but Brainy expected that much. He made sure to mumble a soft little thank you and not quite look him in the eyes.

After Brainy was back on the couch, he mentally noted that his theory was correct; Lord Superman would reward him for what he viewed as good behavior as, Brainy imagined, the former dictator would punish him for bad behavior. Not moving away from him in bed and going along with Lord Superman's routine had gotten Brainy his ring back but he wasn't sure if it would get him his belt before tomorrow night when Lord Superman would undoubtedly try to sleep beside Brainy in the nude.

If Brainy thought he could handle Lord Superman sleeping beside him naked he would try to wait out for the belt. If he thought it would stop at Lord Superman being naked he could have tried to wait as long as he needed to but he theorized that once Lord Superman was sleeping naked then he would go after Brainy's clothes. Then after Brainy's clothes was a thought process Brainy dare not dwell on.

"Are you cold?" robotic Lord Superman asked after he finished cleaning Brainy from his master's morning masturbation.

"What?" Brainy didn't understand why he had been asked.

"You shivered," the robot clarified.

Brainy nodded so he wouldn't have to lie out loud. He sometimes wondered what would happen to the robot once he was gone but it seemed like Lord Superman ignored his robotic duplicate for the most part so Brainy tried not to worry.

The robot left and returned with another blanket and a mug of hot chocolate.

The mug surprised Brainy but he supposed the other Brainiac Five may have liked hot chocolate as well. He took it and drank it cautiously.


	14. Part 2 Chapter 7

09/09/12

Chapter 7

Despite Brainy's entire being was screaming for him to speed out of there as fast as he could, he remained sitting. He stayed on the couch, trying to act meek and in pain and unsure of anything around him. It was important to give off the impression that he was too afraid to even try to escape, as long as Lord Superman believed that then there was still hope.

Hope was a very fragile thing though.

The routine changed when it was time to go to bed, though it started as Brainy predicted with Lord Superman removing his clothing until he was down to his underwear. But instead of lying down to sleep he picked Brainy up and set him on his lap, half cradling him against his chest.

"What are you doing?" Brainy didn't have to fake his uncertainty.

"We're going to play a game," Lord Superman's smile was nothing like Clark's, the difference making Brainy shiver. "And this time we're going to play it together."

Though that was definitely a warning that something bad was about to happen Brainy still gasped when Lord Superman took hold of his right arm and forcibly moved his hand over his captor's underwear, feeling a hardness and heat through the clothe.

The room suddenly felt hot and a lot smaller, almost cramped. It probably didn't help that Lord Superman felt like a wall pressing against him, his breath beating against him at a steadily increasing rate.

"It's all yours," Lord Superman breathed. "Take care of it."

That made no sense. What was Brainy supposed to do with it? The only way he could take care of it was slicing it off and throwing it in a fire where it belonged.

Confusion must have been clear on Brainy's face for Lord Superman laughed.

"I guess not even 12th level intelligences know everything. What's the matter, Colu didn't think it was fitting to give a Brainiac a sexual education?"

It was pointless to point out that Brainy knew all the mechanics of sex whether it is between a man and woman or two men; though he wasn't sure how it worked between two women and hadn't had enough interest to do any research on the matter. He still didn't get what was expected of him and he didn't want to know, though he doubted he was going to get a choice in the matter.

"It's called a hand job," Lord Superman released Brainy's hand to remove his erection from his underwear. With a groan he took Brainy's hand again and molded his fingers to go around him. "Basically like assisted masturbation."

Instantly Brainy tried to pull his hand away. His mind didn't even have full time to register his revolution before he was forcibly held in place with a painfully tightened grip, barley able to contain a pained noise.

"I suggest you get started," Lord Superman's voice made it clear the last thing it was, was a suggestion.

There were very little options here. If he refused it would take away the hard work it took to get his Legion ring back and he would have to start all over to get it back at higher stakes, plus it would probably only result in a painful punishment and having to do it anyway. If he could keep from being ill and do this then maybe he could get his belt back and increase the likelihood of an acceptable escape.

Swallowing back the burning in his throat, Brainy began to move his hand, copying the motion he had witnessed Lord Superman do on himself the last couple of mornings. He had to swallow again at the delighted moan the Kryptonian omitted.

"There, that's a good boy," Lord Superman panted, letting go of Brainy's arm to hold onto his shoulders with one arm and reaching into the front of Brainy's pants with the other hand. He tightened his arm around Brainy's shoulders when he tried to pull away again. "Don't worry; I'll make it feel good."

Brainy shivered and thought he wouldn't have been able to keep from being ill if he had eaten anything the last couple of days when the Kryptonian's hand made his way underneath his clothing. The hand was hot, almost painfully so when it touched him and he couldn't stop his body from shaking, only half aware that his hand on Lord Superman had froze when this started.

Though he stroked the boy's member, Lord Superman was unable to bring it to arousal. He frowned at first but then smiled.

"I see you need to be persuaded, luckily I have at years of practice."

Learning in, Lord Superman licked a line along Brainy's neck making the young coluan gasp. He sucked upon that line, continuing to stroke him.

Unable to understand something inside Brainy sparked. There was a different sort of heat now, building inside of him and starting to make his member hard. He wanted to scream, he didn't want his body to react this way especially not for his monster doppelganger of his friend.

But this doppelganger had a cheat book and knew all the places of Brainy's body that were sensitive and didn't hesitate in assaulting all of them to make the boy hard against his will. It was difficult to not to fully dive into what Lord Superman really wanted to do to the whimpering coluan in his arms but he had to be careful, he didn't want to send him into shock and have made all this effort worthless.

Once he had Brainy at the point where he wanted, Lord Superman guided Brainy's hand back to his erection. He groaned when Brainy's hand still did not move, moaning when another squeeze around the shoulders got him going.

It seemed to take an eternity to make Lord Superman ejaculate but the kryptonian had not relented until he forced one from the coluans body as well.

Ignoring the smaller body shaking against him, Lord Superman kissed Brainy's mouth, cheek, neck and then his forehead.

"Such a good boy."

When Lord Superman laid them both down to go to sleep, Brainy felt his body curl up without his commanding it to. He was as small as he could get and he did not feel small enough yet tiny and insignificant at the same time.

The coluan's skin felt like it was caked in dirt. His skin, this clothes felt dirtier then any amount of water could ever get skin.

There was a strange tightness in Brainy's chest and his eyes were stinging but he had nothing to compare it to, to know what it meant.

For the first time since his arrival Brainy slept to escape his own mind.


	15. Part 2 Chapter 8

09/10/12

Chapter 8

Brainy woke up to a kiss and almost dry heaved. It was tempting to pretend to stay asleep, ignore the reality of the situation but he opened his eyes.

Hovering over him, Lord Superman, already showered and dressed for the day, smiled and patted the Coluan's hair.

"Good morning love."

It probably was in his best interest to respond but Brainy couldn't find the energy. He couldn't even find the energy to care, he was so tired.

"I know you're tired but I have something that will brighten your day," Lord Superman picked up something from behind him.

At the sight of his force field belt, Brainy's eyes stung like they had the night before but there was no tightness in his chest. It was simple enough to ignore as he reached for the belt.

With a smirk, Lord Superman pulled it out of each. He almost looked like he wanted to laugh when Brainy turned to him.

"I know this makes you feel safe but I just want you to remember that I can take away anytime I want."

Safe, Brain pondered the word as Lord Superman helped him sit up and put the belt back around his waist. He wondered if there was such a thing anymore.

Once clean and back to the couch yet again, Brainy found a place in his mind that was quiet and stayed there. He didn't react when the robotic Lord Superman cleaned him up and ignored the offered glass of water. There was a thought of how long it would take to die if he kept refusing the water but he dismissed it to go back to the quiet space.

Only half aware of anything around him, Brainy acknowledged the robotic Lord Superman speaking with his master. They weren't talking in hushed voices but he couldn't comprehend anything that was being said.

"What about Brainy," Lord Superman's saying his name brought Brainy begrudgingly make to focus.

"I shall see that his needs are attended to," the robot replied.

"Alright, but I'll be back as soon as it's fixed," Lord Superman left his work station and flew over to Brainy, brushing back his hair and ignoring his wince to kiss his temple. "I'll be back soon, be good."

So not to ignore him completely, Brainy gave a little nod to acknowledge him and almost gave off a sigh when his tormentor left the room. He almost missed it when the robot said something to him.

"What?"

"Do you need anything Brainiac Five?" the robot asked again.

There were many things Brainy wanted but most of them seemed too dark to even acknowledge thinking them.

"Nothing I think you can help with."

"Then I shall see to my other duties," the robotic Lord Superman turned to go.

There was no way Brainy heard that right, "W-what?"

The robot stopped and turned to him, "I shall be leaving you alone for a bit to attend to my other duties unless you need me for something."

When Brainy shook his head and watched the robot leave with widened eyes. Once he was alone he couldn't believe it; it had to be a trick or a trap of sorts but really what other opportunity was he ever going to get?

Not wasting another second Brainy flew as fast as he could down the long corridor he had noticed on his first day out in the main room. He saw many broken cages and could only imagine what used to be in them and tried not to kind about what happened to whatever the former occupants were.

At the end of the hall was a wall, no door or window of any sort. Brainy contemplated exploring the cages when he saw a hole in the ground, leading into the ocean under the ice.

There was a very high probability that this was the exit. It would make sense to keep it hidden from anyone who would try to find the fortress after all but there was no way of knowing how long it would take to reach the other side if that entrance hadn't frozen over. If the water wouldn't be freezing to the point where it could kill him before he reached an exit he'd almost be better off holding his breath and swimming to save the energy on his force field belt but being wet in frigid conditions would only lower his chance of survival and the force field would allow Brainy to breath for a little longer until he found the exit.

It took only seconds for Brainy to make his decision, activating his force shield belt and making it as close to his body as he could to conserve energy and keep it stable. He flew into the water and was grateful the force field gave off some light or he wouldn't be able to see anything. He moved through the water quickly until he found a place the ice was thinner, a frozen over exit with no other one in sight.

Backing away, Brainy rapidly flew back up to ram the force field into the thinned ice and break through. As soon as he was above the ice he deactivated the force field and determined which way was south and flew west, it would take longer to reach civilization going west but south was the way Lord Superman would more then likely look for him first in once he realized the coluan was gone.

So not to make for an easy visual target, Brainy flew fast but close to the ground. The cold was rapidly beginning to burn his skin and he almost wished he had brought the blanket that had been wrapped around his feet before though he knew it would have done little good in these conditions.

A sound made Brainy still; it sounded like an airplane.

With an internal curse Brainy looked around rapidly, spotting lots of snow and ice but not any place to hide unless he wanted to bury himself in the snow. Flying forward around, he continued to look around himself until he spotted a cave or rather a sliver in a small mountain of snow. He could barley squeeze into it and the inside wasn't much bigger, though relatively deep, his arms practically pinned to his chest and his bare feet having to stand on the ground for there was no room to hover.

It was hard not to shiver but he tried to stay as still as possible. He could hear the 'airplane' getting closer.

Like a bullet grazing flesh the speed of Lord Superman flying by cut into the snow and sent it flying out like an ocean wave. The upsurge flooded the little cavern and covered Brainy with its slush.

Unable to stop shivering now, Brainy did his best to knock the snow off of his face. Luckily the snow didn't pact itself in around him, instead drifting back out of the cave though it was still up to Brainy's waist.

Time was up, Lord Superman knew he was gone and was looking for him. It took the Kryptonian mere minutes, if not seconds, to circle the Earth when he reached full speed so there was no hopes of sneaking off the frozen continent without being spotted if he flew. He also did not have the option of going underneath through the icy waters; his belt wouldn't last long enough for that.

The scramblers from the fortress were out of range but they hadn't completely left Brainy system yet. Still he was able to change his hand into the tools he needed to do some work on his Legion ring.

Once he was done Brainy activated the communicator and took a shady breath; desperate times for desperate measures and all that.

"This is Brainiac Five; I have been kidnapped by Lord Superman and am being held at the Fortress of Solitude in the Artic. If you get this please alert Lord Batman. Repeat this is Brainiac Five, does anyone hear me?"

"I hear you Brainy."

Feeling colder then the snow could accomplish, Brainy slowly turned to look out the entrance of the cave, though he already knew what he would see. Just outside was Lord Superman peering in at him with glowing red eyes.


	16. Part 2 Chapter 9

09/11/12

Chapter 9

The eye lock lasted an uncomfortable amount of time, breaking when a crackle came from Brainy's Legion ring.

With a shout Lord Superman reached into the cavern to pull Brainy out but Brainy was in just deep enough were the tips of the Kryptonian's fingers brushed against his arm. Shouting again he reeled back his fist to knock down the top flying over it as he did.

Just as the cavern top crumbled, Brainy flew out and tried to turn his arm into its canon form. His arm spasm into it for a moment but could not hold the shape due to the scrambling still in his system and now it felt like he punched it through a wall of glass that shattered and sliced through him from wrist to elbow.

There was no time to dwell on the pain though. Brainy barley dodged another attempt of Lord Superman to grab him and Brainy probably only succeeded because the Kryptonian was still seeing red.

"You're being a bad boy Brainy, a very bad boy," Lord Superman shouted, making pillars of snow around them crumble.

"Stop talking to me as if I'm some sort of god damned pet," Brainy shouted back, he really had nothing to lose anymore.

Though Lord Superman swung around to face Brainy he didn't make a move to grab him again. He took in a deep breath and steam came out of his mouth as he exhaled.

"Come back with me now and I'll forgive this little field trip of yours."

"I would rather die," Brainy didn't hesitate in his answer.

At those words Lord Superman's eyes went from red back to blue. He looked at Brainy in a way that reminded Brainy of Clark when he was first brought to the future, confused and looking to him for answers. It was the only thing remotely Clark like thing that this so called Kryptonian had done since invading Brainy's life.

"Why would you say a thing like that Brainy? All I want to do is love you."

"What you're doing isn't love," Brainy could hear the venom in his own voice. "You kidnapped me, injuring me to get me here, took away my basic defenses, my sprocking shoes and kept me as a prisoner. You force me to share your bed and then you, I can't even say what you do in the morning it's so disgusting, it's like you're trying to mark me as your property. I am no one's property!"

"You are mine!" the red returned to Lord Superman's eyes.

"I am not," Brainy countered. "And neither was the Brainiac Five who was here before me. I don't know what you had or thought you had with him but I can tell you this much, he hated you just as I hate you with every fiber of my being because you are a tyrant; violent, apathetic to what the horrors you have done has caused and manipulative to the point it makes me sick. I will never find your existence tolerable, let alone love you and I rather be dead then be some sort of toy in your sexual exploits!"

Screaming like a villain in one of Bouncing Boy's bad movies Lord Superman flew forward and pulverized the snow where Brainy had been floating.

"I thought you said you'd rather die!"

"I never said I would make it easy on you."

Rage caused Lord Superman to miss Brainy two more times before he landed a punch, quite possibly breaking Brainy's ribs. If it hadn't the second and third punches would have taken care of it, along with a broken jaw.

The forth punch sent them both crashing through the ice and into the water. Even there Lord Superman continued his assault, not even noticing that Brainy wasn't making much effort to dodge or fight back anymore.

Soon enough they were fighting on the ocean floor where it would have killed most humanoid species but under the yellow run Kryptonians could hold their breath for a long period of times and withstand great pressures while Brainy was built to withstand even more then the average Coluan, though he didn't need to worry about the pressure or breathing since he still had his Legion ring.

After another strong punch to the side of his face, Brainy flew into the sand and didn't try to get back up.

Lord Superman went after him, reeling back to punch Brainy's face again but stopped right before his fist could connect. He tried again and again to no prevail, pulling his fist back to look around him.

During his fall into the sand Brainy had dropped his force field belt to the ground right in front of him so it was at Lord Superman's feet when he approached. It activated once the Kryptonain was close enough but instead of protecting a wearer the belt projected the force field around Lord Superman, close to his body. Instead of a protective circle around him the energy moved with his body so he couldn't hit it but it wouldn't allow him to move from the spot he was in; even the sand below was cut off from him and it was filled with water.

Brainy floated up in the water and couldn't help but smirk.

Even fully sun powered Kryptonians needed to breath eventually and this far below the ice the sunlight could not reach him.


	17. Part 2 Chapter 10

09/12/12

Chapter 10

If it hadn't been for the flight ring, Brainy doubted he would have made it to the surface of the ice with broken ribs, a broken jaw and possibly a concussion. Then even though he made it he had no protection from the artic jaw after swimming in the ocean below. Once out of the water and on top of the snow he fell over and curled up tightly, trying to regain some sense of warmth.

Sprock he was tired.

It took more will power then Brainy thought he had but he managed to get up and float again. He knew if he rested he would more then likely fall asleep and freeze to death and he had gotten too far to die now.

For a moment Brainy contemplated going back to the fortress and enlisting the help of the robotic Lord Superman but decided against it. He didn't know how loyal the robot was to his master and couldn't risk him going to free Lord Superman from the force field before he could drown.

It was an odd feeling knowing that he wanted someone to drown, even if it was Lord Superman. An argument could be made that it was in self defense but he had planned to trap the monstrous Kryptonian down there for a lingering death.

The notion to return to the water and release Lord Superman briefly crossed Brainy's mind but he dismissed it. With the disturbing way the Kryptonian's mind worked he doubted being showed mercy would sway him to not continue with his original plan if not beat Brainy to death as it seemed was his intent before Brainy trapped him in the force field.

Finding which direction was south took longer then Brainy liked. His thought process was slowing down due to his rapidly deteriorating condition. He needed to warm up and get medical attention before he could no longer function.

Though he wanted nothing more then to lie down and sleep Brainy flew south as fast as he could manage and still see where he was going. It dried him off quickly but the water dried as layers if ice all over his body, especially thick in his clothes where the most water had clung to him.

At the speed he was going it didn't take long for Brainy to get to a warmer climate. It was tempting to stop to try to use the sun to thaw himself out but he needed land before he could stop. He felt exhaustion tug at his eyelids and the thawing ice was taking away what little pain release he had from his numerous injuries.

Despite his best efforts, Brainy began to slow down. His head felt heavy, almost as if he was back under the water.

It took Brainy a moment to realize that he was falling. Then, even after his realization, he couldn't think of how to stop it. There was even a dull thought wondering why he would want to stop it.

Only when a sharp pain shot through him that Brainy realized that something or someone caught him before he hit the water. The pain was intense because he was caught chest first, the impact and constant pressure agitating his excruciating slowly healing broken ribs.

As if realizing this, the catcher, a person it would seem, turned him over so he was holding Brainy bridal style with one arm. Or maybe it was because they wanted to look at him for a hand pushing back Brainy's bangs stirred Brainy from his groggy state.

At first everything was a blur. Brainy couldn't separate the catcher from the sky. When his vision cleared a little more he still wasn't sure he was seeing right.

The catcher was an adult male or at least the size of an adult male. They were wearing mostly purple with bits of gray and their skin was a pale green. On their forehead was a very familiar three circle emblem.

"Brain," Brainy's voice cracked and for a moment he doubted he would be able to say the word but he swallowed and tried again, "Brainiac."

Exhaustion won over panic and the world went dark.


	18. Part 2 Chapter 11

09/13/12

Chapter 11

There was no telling how much time had passed. Brainy kept losing consciousness and when he was awake everything was muddled and seemed dreamlike until he lost consciousness again.

Along with his injuries Brainy had gotten sick, a rare thing for any Coluan that he only had a vague memory of from when he was very young. If it was anything like this he more then likely blocked it out but he was sure any childhood ailment couldn't compare to this torture.

When he was awake, or at least thought he was awake, there was usually someone there coaxing him to drink something. What little strength he had he didn't waste it arguing and both warm and cold liquids were a welcomed relief to his searing throat.

After what seemed like an eternity Brainy became aware of his surroundings again. He was in a room with walls made of dry wall and not ice, right away a good start. The room had minimal decoration but besides the bed he was in there was a desk, desk chair and a couple of boxes crammed in a closet; all of the appearances of a guest room.

The question was of whom was he a guest of?

"He's awake again," a near by voice brought Brainy's attention to the doorway.

There was a man that looked familiar but the fog clouding Brainy's mind wouldn't lift far enough for him to place where. He was older with gray hair and wore overalls and glasses.

Joining him in the doorway was a woman, also gray haired with glasses, wearing a simple blue shirt with jeans. He had only met her once but even with a number of years added to her face she was unmistakably Martha Kent.

He was in Clark Kent's house, or rather Lord Superman's house.

Though he couldn't remember thinking to do it, Brainy had sprung up with no clear plan in mind which was immediately put to a halt when his head became light, making him fall which was unfortunately onto the floor rather then back onto the bed. Instinctively he held onto his skull, trying to will it away.

"Brainy, are you alright," Martha Kent rushed over to him, putting her hands over his in a way he was sure she was trying to make him let go on his own accord so she could take a look to see if he was hurt but all he could do was hold on tighter and groan.

"Step aside Martha," the man, Jonathon Kent, stood beside her until she moved. He then lifted Brainy with a grunt and set him sitting up on the bed. "Let her take a look, Brainy, we aren't going to hurt you."

Something about his voice, commanding but kind, allowed Brainy to let go and look up at him. His head was swimming how but he had to ask, "How?"

Jonathon Kent smiled, though it looked painful, lifting a hand to gently ruffle Brainy's hair.

"You don't worry about that right now; just concentrate on getting better."

It was tempting just to fall over into slumber but Brainy didn't look away from the Kent's faces.

In turn the Kent's looked at each other, sighed and turned back to him.

"We're sorry Brainy," Martha Kent's eyes were barley holding back the gathering moisture. "Our son-"

"Lord Superman is not our son," Jonathon Kent interrupted gruffly but his eyes were having the same problem as his wife's, "Clark died with the Flash."

When the tears started to run down her face, Jonathon Kent took Martha Kent's hand and gave it a small squeeze but did not attempt to smile.

"We knew the horrible things he was going to this country, to the world," Martha Kent continued, tears having nothing to stop them anymore, "But we never knew what he had done to you, that is, the Brainy we knew before."

"It wasn't until the Justice League from that other world put a stop to it and Lord Batman came to talk to us that we found out what happened," Jonathon Kent bowed his head, shoulder's sagging.

"We were already ashamed of what he had done but you, what he did to the other Brainy was the last straw," Martha explained softly. "We cut off what little ties we had left to him, even declared Clark," she swallowed, "legally dead and had a funeral."

"We never got to see the other Brainy before he went to the future but then Lord Superman escaped and Lord Batman was too heavily injured to go after him, we knew we had to do something," Jonathon Kent was barely able to raise his head, let alone look at Brainy but his voice sounded stronger.

"We were able to get in contact with a hero that went underground when the Justice Lords formed," Martha Kent explained further. "We knew almost everyone who could stand up against Lord Superman was… altered, imprisoned or dead but the young hero, Gear, he had a piece of one that could stand a chance."

"We knew it was dangerous brining him back but Gear was able to work the programming so he had to obey us," Jonathon Kent raised his head a little more.

The word 'programming' brought back a memory from before he had fallen unconscious.

"Brainiac," Brainy wanted to shout but his voice was too hoarse. "Y-you brought back Brainiac?!"

"We needed a way to fight Lord Superman," Jonathon Kent tried to justify it.

Even though the counterpart of his own ancestor had caught him just in time to save his life, Brainy wished that they hadn't made such an attempt. The programming to obey the Kents could be overridden with time and then what would stop the machine form compiling data on the Earth and deleting it?

"You need to rest," Martha Kent tried to coax him. "We'll have a way to send you back home soon."

"How?" the demand came out harsher then Brainy intended but he couldn't find the energy to care.

"Lord Batman and Brainiac are building a new portal thingy in the barn," Jonathon Kent didn't miss a beat. "They're confident it will be done soon."

"I want to see it," Brainy demanded.

"Brainy, you're in no condition to-"

"I want to see it! …Please."

He had to see it. He had to know it was real. That there was really a way to send him home, away from this place. Maybe then he could try to block out this experience and finally feel clean again.

The Kents looked at each other, reading the other's eyes before coming to an agreement. Martha Kent wrapped him in a blanket and Jonathon Kent lifted him up.


	19. Part 2 Chapter 12

09/20/12

Chapter 12

The fifth Brainiac wasn't sure what he was expecting to happen when he would encounter the alternate version of his ancestor but being ignored certainly wasn't one of them. Even Lord Batman acknowledged Brainy's presence in the barn more then the original Brainiac and all the dark knight did was glance over his shoulder at the small Coluan on occasion before going straight back to work.

For the most part Brainy was still rather ill and could not assist his alternate ancestor or the Justice Lord, turned jailor, in building a new portal to get him home but that didn't stop him from being as close as he could get to it, without being in the way. Part of him wanted to open a panel and crawl into what would become the portal, in a sort of embrace until it took him away from this nightmare. The rest of him was stubbornly refusing to pass out from fever.

He was thankful that Mr. Kent understood that and had Brainiac bring down an old couch from the barn loft for Brainy to sit on as he watched the portal slowly take shape. Mrs. Kent also brought him some chicken noodle in a mug to sip, along with another blanket in pillow in case he wanted it.

Time went by slowly; the only words spoken in the barn were when Lord Batman ordered Brainiac to retrieve more materials for the portal. Brainiac, for his part, never questioned or made suggestions, not even a snide side comment; he simply followed orders which was somehow more nerve wracking then threats of deletion.

At some point Brainy must have dozed off because he awoke when the barn shook. The shaking was too much to be from any sort of normal breeze; it was more like something flying at super speeds had flown in too close to the barn. It reminded Brainy of when snow flew into his hiding space during his escape and he went cold again.

"Stay here," Lord Batman pointed at Brainy and headed for the barn door with Brainiac following close behind.

Brainy waited a moment, and then followed. While they went outside, Brainy stayed at the door and peeked out, almost running away from it when he did.

Standing between the barn and the house was Lord Superman, dripping wet and panted raggedly, holding Brainy's crush belt in his fist.

The belt most have run out of power before it could finish its job; finishing Lord Superman. Now it had doomed Brainy and possibly everyone else here to share its fate.

"I obviously didn't break enough bones for you to be standing again so soon Bruce," Lord Superman's voice barely kept from being a growl, holding no warmth that using his fellow Lord's name should indicate. "I shouldn't have left you breathing."

"No, you shouldn't have," Lord Batman agreed, voice calm and even. "You really want to do this Clark; on your parent's farm?"

"They buried me," Lord Superman seethed.

"You buried yourself," Lord Batman shook his head. "We all did when we decided that we knew better then the rest of the world. Especially you; keeping the person you claimed to love as a prisoner and then doing it again to another version f him who has never known you; a child."

"Brainiac Five is mine," Lord Superman shouted, his voice actually causing a burst of wind, shaking the barn again and cracking the ground beneath his feet.

"The first one may have been, at one time when he gave himself to you freely but you lost that when you took him," Lord Batman didn't flinch. "I'm not going to let you touch this Brainiac Five, or any other Brainiac Five, ever again."

"Is that so?" Lord Superman growled, eyes glowing red.

"That statement would be incorrect," Brainy actually touched his own lips to make sure those words did not come from his own mouth until he spotted someone behind Lord Superman, whom the others had also turned to look.

There, just standing there as if he had come out of thin air was Brainy but not Brainy. This Brainiac Five was older, an adult like Lord Superman but smaller than him, not as muscular as the Kryptonian but with hard earned strength in his lithe frame. He was completely organic as well, just as Lord Superman had described, shorter hair and a different version of his Legion uniform. On his hands were some sort of gauntlets with small generators on them but the Brainy in the barn could not tell what they were for at that distance.

Though Brainy could not see Lord Superman's face anymore, with the Krpytonian turned to look at the older Brainiac Five, Brainy could hear a strange softness in his voice when he spoke.

"Brainy, you came back to me."

"No," Brainiac Five's voice held no warmth as he activated the gauntlets. "I'm here to ensure that Lord Batman's declaration becomes a reality."

Tossing aside the crushed force field belt, Lord Superman's voice became hard again, "You _will_ come back to me."

"At the end of this day there will be a dead body on the ground," Brainiac Five moved into a fighting stance. "I would prefer it to be yours."


End file.
